Difference between revisions of "Mechadense's Wiki about Atomically Precise Manufacturing"

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|style="background:#FFCCCC; color:#000000; width: 80%; text-align:center;" |  '''Language: en | [[Mechandense's Wiki über atomar präzise Herstellung| Sprache: de]]'''  
 
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* '''[[General Introduction to atomically precise manufacturing|Intro:]]''' Here is a detailed introduction to atomically precise manufacturing as a whole.
+
__NOTOC__
* [[The DAPMAT demo project]]
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= The far term target =
 
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= The far term goal =
+
  
 
{{Template:Nanofactory introduction}}
 
{{Template:Nanofactory introduction}}
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The basis for such a personal fabricator - the '''atomically precise manufacturing (APM) technology''' - is beginning to be figured out today.
 
The basis for such a personal fabricator - the '''atomically precise manufacturing (APM) technology''' - is beginning to be figured out today.
  
= Guided Tour =
+
= Dodge the trapdoors =
  
__NOTOC__
+
First off: Let's get the major obstacles out of the way.
Here forms a general introduction to atomically precise manufacturing.
+
* '''There are no "nanobots" here!''' <br>Check the info pages "[[Prime distractions]]" and "[[No nanobots]]".
The introductory tour is meant for a wide target audience ranging from newbie to expert and from young to old.
+
* '''Macroscale style machinery at the nanoscale?!'''<br> It's well known, that there are several severe concerns regarding this idea. And for very good reasons.<br> Less known is, that all of those major concerns have been considered in quite some detail with rather surprising results. Check out the main article discussing the concerns here: <br>[[Macroscale style machinery at the nanoscale]]
(Advanced readers should be able to quickly dive deeper via [[progressive disclosure]]).
+
-----
 +
* '''Yes, lifes nanomachinery (molecular biology) does NOT constitute a feasibility proof of the targeted kind of technology.''' But it does not constitute an infeasibility proof either. For details see: "[[Nature does it differently]]". <br>What does provide the very high confidence in feasibility is low level [[exploratory engineering]] applied without compromises. <br>Additionally there are successful experimental demonstrations of manipulation of single atoms. Repeatable, precise, with strong covalent bonds, and at decently high temperatures ("decently high" meaning: no liquid helium involved). Plus there's a clear path how to speed this up to the necessary operations frequencies. Namely by scaling down the placement mechanisms.
 +
* '''No, making every structure permitted by physical law is NOT the goal here.''' Quite the contrary actually. What we want is to cheat and make it seem as if we could. It's even encoded in the name that this wiki uses to refer to the far term target. Specifically in the "gem" and "gum" parts in "gem-gum-tec". For details check out: "[[The defining traits of gem-gum-tec]]" and "[[Every structure permissible by physical law]]".
 +
* '''No, using soft nanomachinery to bootstrap stiff nanomachinery is not an abandonment of principles.''' It just might be a more practical approach to get to the target faster. See: "[[Pathways]]".
  
Please excuse the links dangling into construction sites.<br>
+
== What APM is not ==
The tour is still a far stretch from being in a somewhat coherent state.
+
  
== Tour by topic ==
+
While early APM may have overlap with these areas the far term goals are very different.
  
{{Template:Orientation}}
+
* [[Soft nanomachines]]: APM is all about targeting [[stiffness]] / stiff nanomachines / "hard" nanomachines. <br>Nonetheless soft nanomachines can be very useful in the bootstrapping process. <br><small>Note though, that self assembly (useful in bootstrapping) does not essentially rely on a lack of stiffness aka softness. There are experiments with hierarchical self assembly of structural DNA nanotechnology that have clearly demonstrated this {{wikitodo|add reference}}.</small>
 +
* [[Molecular biology]]: One main far term target in molecular biology is a complete reverse engineering of natures nanomachinery for grand improvements in medicine. This is strongly unrelated to the far term target of APM. A particular example where the interests diverge: The very difficult folding problem for natural proteins versus the relatively simple de-novo-protein-design for artificial nanomachinery.
 +
* [[Synthetic biology]]: The far term targets of this research is the recreation and expansion of the nanomachinery of life. It goes pretty much 180° in the opposite direction of APM. <br><small>(Not to say that this research is not valuable in its own right. Its far term targets are just maximally unrelated to R&D efforts targeting APM)</small>
  
== Tour by map ==
+
Main article: "[[Brownian technology path]]"
 
+
There is something like a universal all encompassing [[possibility space|timeless landscape of technology]] (an abstract concept).
+
This landscape turns out to be very well suited to give a general overview over the various aspects of the field of atomically precise manufacturing.
+
 
+
[[File:Possibility_space_overview_-_original_size.svg|750px|thumb|center|Main article: "[[possibility space]]"; (1) R&D with (1a) untargeted research discovering more surprising pathway entry points (1b) targeted engineering marching forward on identified pathway entry points; (2) [[Pathways to advanced APM systems|path]], especially [[incremental path]] with three technology levels ([[Technology level I|2a]],[[Technology level II|2b]],[[Technology level III|2c]]); (3) target backward [[preparatory design]] (4) far off target: [[Nanofactory|gem-gum factory]]; (5a) [[gemstone based metamaterial]]s, (5b) [[Products of advanced atomically precise manufacturing|advanced products]] and (5c) more abstract consequences ([[Opportunities|good]] and [[Dangers|bad]])  hard to quantify and blurring into speculation -- (green areas) [[Exploratory engineering]]. (dark green) known today.]]
+
 
+
The landscape is about the range of fundamentally possible of technologies.
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The range of these possible technologies is determined by physical law.
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Under the assumption that physical laws do not change in time or space, the fundamental potential of technology too does not change in time or space. (Assuming unchanging physical law should obviously make sense for all practical purposes. Side notes of little relevance on that [[Reliability of physical laws|here]]).
+
 
+
Uncovering the fundamental potential of technology is thus not about predicting the future as one might suspect.
+
It's about uncovering truths that where already there since the "dawn of time" (and which hold everywhere).
+
 
+
Specifically in the field of atomically precise manufacturing there is the unusual situation that some things that cannot yet be built or directly tested, can already be understood and simulated. Sometimes more reliably, sometimes less. Some major ones of those areas of investigation in the field of APM that feature this unusual situation are depicted as green "islands" in the landscape above.
+
When isolating a strategy to maximize the reliability of such predictions one ends up with the methodology of [[exploratory engineering]].
+
 
+
= Atomically Precise Manufacturing (APM) – near term & far term =
+
 
+
== What APM is not ==
+
 
+
While early APM may have overlap with these areas the far term goals are completely and utterly different.
+
* [[soft nanomachines]], [[molecular biology]], [[synthetic biology]] – Main article: "[[Brownian technology path]]"
+
  
 
== What APM actually is ==
 
== What APM actually is ==
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APM is basically the capability of manufacturing products such that the atoms they are constituted of link (bind) to each other in "exactly" the way one desires them to. Since "absolute exactness" in other words "making no errors ever" is a fundamental physical impossibility one just aims for extremely low error rates. On the long run error rates comparable to the bit-error-rates one can find in todays digital data processing systems.
 
APM is basically the capability of manufacturing products such that the atoms they are constituted of link (bind) to each other in "exactly" the way one desires them to. Since "absolute exactness" in other words "making no errors ever" is a fundamental physical impossibility one just aims for extremely low error rates. On the long run error rates comparable to the bit-error-rates one can find in todays digital data processing systems.
  
== Today and near term ==
+
= APM in the near term and APM in the far term =  
  
'''Pick and place assembly of single atoms (or molecule fragments) is not at all a necessity for early forms of APM.'''<br>
+
* On this wiki "atomically precise manufacturing" (or APM) will be interpreted in a wider sense. Including both earlier precursor systems in the near term and the targeted later systems in the far term.
In fact pick and place assembly is not needed at all for early forms of APM.
+
* On this wiki the shorthand '''"gem-gum technology"''' will be used to refer to the '''far term target'''.<br><small>''A technically accurate description of the far term target technology would be:<br>"atomically resolving gemstone based metamaterial manufacturing and technology"''</small>
[[Thermally driven assembly|Assembly driven by the "vigorous" thermal motion at the nanoscale]] (slightly misleading tech-term: "self assembly") can do the job.
+
For more details see the main article:<br>
 +
[[Near term and far term]].
  
* This [[Thermally driven assembly]] is not present in macroscale manufacturing. Therefore it is not present in our (knowledge and) intuition (unless we study the nanoscale in detail). Advanced APM is sometimes claimed to be impossible due to the effects of thermal motion. Which is clearly wrong for all the points that have been pointed at ([[mechanosynthesis]], [[superlubrication|friction]], ...). What is the case is that some proponents of advanced APM may lack knowledge (and intuition) regarding thermal motion.
+
= Take a tour =
* [[Thermally driven assembly]] puts thing together in faulty configurations quite often (high error rates). But its just enough such that one can start climbing the "[[incremental path|stiffness ladder]]" introducing more and more restrained and forced motion leading to advanced APM.
+
  
It may come somewhat unexpected but '''in early APM systems there is no need for the atoms to stay in place.'''
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Take a guided tour: <small>(Work in progress. Please excuse the links dangling into construction sites.)</small><br>
No, that does not contradict the introduction earlier.
+
* [[Tour by topic]]
The atoms still need to keep their nearest neighbors they are strongly bonded to.
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* [[Tour by map]]
What needs to be preserved such that is counts as atomically precise ([[topological atomic precision|in the weak (topological) sense]]) is just "what links to what" (tech-term: "bond topology").
+
Or take a shortcut directly from here:
  
In the early atomically precise systems of today the atoms tend to be bonded together in polymer chains. The whole chains constantly deform since the (zig-zag going) bonds in these polymer chains can (and very much do) rotate and flex. Thereby atoms can be displaced much more than their own diameter. Polymer chains with (mutually puzzle piece like matching) "side groups" that cause these chains to [[Thermally driven folding|fold up]] into compact lumps (such chains are called: "[[Foldamer R&D|foldamers]]") restrict this unwanted freedom of motion far enough to give the folded lumps a ([[De-novo protein engineering|more]] or less) predictable shape. But the location of the individual atoms may (and usually will) still wiggle around way beyond the diameter of the individual atoms.
+
== What, Why, How, When ==
 
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In some sense even chemistry (the deterministic parts of it) could be counted as the earliest form of APM.
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(This is very much excluding macromolecular polymer chemistry with statistical cross-linking.)
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Important to note is that a major aspect of APM is that it specifically focuses on scaling up APM capabilities to bigger sizes.
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Chemistry is on the very bottom and does not scale up well.
+
  
 +
{|style="background-color:#ccccff;" cellpadding="5"
 +
|DEFINITION:
 +
|'''[[About APM]]'''
 +
|'''What''' APM is not and what it is.
 +
|-
 +
|MOTIVATION:
 +
|[[Reasons for APM]]
 +
| '''Why''' we need APM.
 +
|-
 +
|OBSTACLES:
 +
|[[conceptual and institutional challenges]]
 +
| '''What''' impedes progress towards APM.
 +
|-
 +
|APPROACH:
 +
|[[Pathways to advanced APM systems|Pathways to advanced APM]]
 +
|'''How''' we get to advanced APM.
 +
|-
 +
|PROGRESSION:
 +
|[[Time till advanced APM]]
 +
|'''When''' we will get to advanced APM?
 +
|}
 
----
 
----
 +
Also there are:
 +
* the '''[[goals of this wiki]]'''
 +
* this wiki's [[APM:About|impressum]]
 +
* related 3D printing projects: [[The DAPMAT demo project|educational illustration of various principles]]; [[ReChain project]]; [[RepRec project]]
  
In advanced atomically precise systems the atomically precise lumps are no longer made from folded up chains.
+
Misc:
Instead of chains the chemical bonds form tight meshes. Tiny [[crystolecule|crystals with molecule character]].
+
* '''[[General Introduction to atomically precise manufacturing|Intro:]]''' Here is an old version of the landing page. Containing a detailed introduction to atomically precise manufacturing as a whole. (warning, lots of text)
This tight mesh of bonds prevents the bonds from rotating, excessive stretching and bending. It is [[stiffness|stiff]].
+
Here the location of the individual atoms can finally be restrained below the diameter of the individual atoms.
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This is atomically precise ([[positional atomic precision|in the strong (positional) sense]]).
+
It allows [[mechanosynthesis| advanced force applying mechanosynthesis]].
+
 
+
----
+
 
+
In summary: While APM systems must always be [[topological atomic precision|topologically precise]] [[positional atomic precision|positional precision]] is reserved for the more advanced forms of APM.
+
 
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== Towards the far term ==
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+
There are '''two core ideas''' that determine what the R&D direction from early forms of APM to advanced forms of APM actually is.
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This wiki will refer to those two ideas with the shorthand '''"gem-gum"'''.
+
This shorthand has been chosen since:
+
* it is catchy, in other words easy to spell and remember. <br>whereas "high throughput atomically precise manufacturing" and "atomically precise manufacturing level technology" are not. <br>(Source of these rather long terms: "[[Radical Abundance]]")
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* it is highly specific and thus hard to annex by other concepts. It very clearly points to the far term goal <br>which "high throughput atomically precise manufacturing level technology" does not.
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=== Gem ===
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'''Core idea #1''' [[gemstone like compound|Gem]]:<br>
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Short for [[stiffness|high stiffness]] '''gemstone like compound'''.
+
 
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Gradual increase of the [[stiffness]] of the materials we build with is the ultimate key to raise our level of control over matter (the key to advanced [[mechanosynthesis]]). The term "gem" (short for gemstone - obviously) points exclusively to the ideal [[gemstone like compound|stiff base materials of the far term target technology]]. This explicitly excludes early stage atomically precise manufacturing such as "[[structural DNA nanotechnology]]"
+
 
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=== Gem-Gum ===
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[[File:Space_of_possible_materials.svg|250px|thumb|right|Gemstone based mechanical metamaterials (here called "gem-gum") are a clear (and relatively simple) far term goal of APM. "Gem-gum" will extend the material properties that are available to us today to material properties that currently are deemed exotic or even contradictory and seemingly impossible. In the process of getting towards the far term goal of "gem-gum" even further reaching capabilities are likely to become accessible that can provide material properties even beyond those that "gem-gum" can provide. One of example would be: Direct mechanosynthesis of digestible food molecules. But these materials are even further out and even harder to predict.]]
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'''Core idea #2''' [[Gemstone based metamaterial|Gem-Gum]]:<br>
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Short for '''gemstone based mechanical metamaterials''' with seemingly contradicting and impossible properties.
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"Gum" (in the sense of rubber like stuff) made out of gemstone, is just a catchy example.
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Even when one can mechanosynthesize almost nothing (just a few simple base materials) one can make almost anything by mechanical emulation. This is the "magic" of mechanical metamaterials. "Gum" is just a shorthand for one concrete example of such a metamaterial that rhymes on "Gem" which makes memorization a lot easier. Also it's a concrete example that's rather un-intuitive. Rubber made from gemstone.
+
This could peak interest (click-bait effect).
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Even with very minimal high stiffness nano-manufacturing capabilities (just one single high performance compound like e.g. diamond and nothing else) the amount of materials creatable will far exceed what is available today.
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=== Limits to the ambitions ===
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APM is sometimes said to have the goal to:
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* ''Create most arrangements (or patterns) of atoms that are permitted by and consistent with physical law.''
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But that is even beyond the far term goal of [[nanofactory|gem-gum factories]].
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Due to the strong "pessimism" (more formally "conservativeness") of [[exploratory engineering]] '''the [[nanofactory|reliably predictable part of future tecnology]] is just the innermost naked core of what will really emerge'''. Part of this "innermost naked core" are just a few base materials.
+
But these few alone are, when made into (mechanical) metamaterials, already sufficient for the emulation of an overwhelming plethora of material properties that goes far beyond what we have today (2017).
+
 
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Much of the yet to come stuff that cannot yet be expected from the [[incremental path]] (including fundamentally unpredictable scientific discoveries) may remain in the final systems. But there also often will be [[Consistent design for external limiting factors|strong reasons to ditch earlier legacy technology]] to not unnecessarily limit the range of situations in which the [[Products of advanced atomically precise manufacturing|advanced products]] will be usable in.
+
  
 
= Links =
 
= Links =
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* [http://www.sci-nanotech.com Forum]
 
* [http://www.sci-nanotech.com Forum]
 
* [http://www.foresight.org/ Foresight Institute: Nanotechnology]
 
* [http://www.foresight.org/ Foresight Institute: Nanotechnology]
 +
* [http://www.imm.org/ Institute for Molecular Manufacturing]
 +
* [http://www.molecularassembler.com/Nanofactory/ Nanofactory Collaboration]
 
* [http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/201310Nano_Solutions.pdf Disquisition 2013 "Nano-solutions for the 21st century: Unleashing the fourth technological revolution"]
 
* [http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/201310Nano_Solutions.pdf Disquisition 2013 "Nano-solutions for the 21st century: Unleashing the fourth technological revolution"]
 
* [http://www.zyvexlabs.com/Publications2010/WhitePapers/APM_Q_and_A.html Zyvex's definition of APM]
 
* [http://www.zyvexlabs.com/Publications2010/WhitePapers/APM_Q_and_A.html Zyvex's definition of APM]

Revision as of 15:23, 26 August 2018

Language: en | Sprache: de

The far term target

A personal desktop gem-gum factory fabblet with dynamically deployed protective hood.

The personal gem gum factory is:

  • Your personal device that can push out virtually every thing* of your daily use.
    (* at least every inedible thing)

The personal gem gum factory makes:

  • Your products that are as cheap as the abundant mining-free raw materials that it processes.
  • Your products that are far superior to today's best and ridiculously expensive high tech products.
  • Your products potentially in an environmentally friendly effluent free way
    (also advanced recycling is faster than producing from scratch)
Graphical Infosheets: [1] (work in progress)

The existence of a personal fabricator will have profound impact human society on a global scale. The basis for such a personal fabricator - the atomically precise manufacturing (APM) technology - is beginning to be figured out today.

Dodge the trapdoors

First off: Let's get the major obstacles out of the way.

  • There are no "nanobots" here!
    Check the info pages "Prime distractions" and "No nanobots".
  • Macroscale style machinery at the nanoscale?!
    It's well known, that there are several severe concerns regarding this idea. And for very good reasons.
    Less known is, that all of those major concerns have been considered in quite some detail with rather surprising results. Check out the main article discussing the concerns here:
    Macroscale style machinery at the nanoscale

  • Yes, lifes nanomachinery (molecular biology) does NOT constitute a feasibility proof of the targeted kind of technology. But it does not constitute an infeasibility proof either. For details see: "Nature does it differently".
    What does provide the very high confidence in feasibility is low level exploratory engineering applied without compromises.
    Additionally there are successful experimental demonstrations of manipulation of single atoms. Repeatable, precise, with strong covalent bonds, and at decently high temperatures ("decently high" meaning: no liquid helium involved). Plus there's a clear path how to speed this up to the necessary operations frequencies. Namely by scaling down the placement mechanisms.
  • No, making every structure permitted by physical law is NOT the goal here. Quite the contrary actually. What we want is to cheat and make it seem as if we could. It's even encoded in the name that this wiki uses to refer to the far term target. Specifically in the "gem" and "gum" parts in "gem-gum-tec". For details check out: "The defining traits of gem-gum-tec" and "Every structure permissible by physical law".
  • No, using soft nanomachinery to bootstrap stiff nanomachinery is not an abandonment of principles. It just might be a more practical approach to get to the target faster. See: "Pathways".

What APM is not

While early APM may have overlap with these areas the far term goals are very different.

  • Soft nanomachines: APM is all about targeting stiffness / stiff nanomachines / "hard" nanomachines.
    Nonetheless soft nanomachines can be very useful in the bootstrapping process.
    Note though, that self assembly (useful in bootstrapping) does not essentially rely on a lack of stiffness aka softness. There are experiments with hierarchical self assembly of structural DNA nanotechnology that have clearly demonstrated this (wiki-TODO: add reference).
  • Molecular biology: One main far term target in molecular biology is a complete reverse engineering of natures nanomachinery for grand improvements in medicine. This is strongly unrelated to the far term target of APM. A particular example where the interests diverge: The very difficult folding problem for natural proteins versus the relatively simple de-novo-protein-design for artificial nanomachinery.
  • Synthetic biology: The far term targets of this research is the recreation and expansion of the nanomachinery of life. It goes pretty much 180° in the opposite direction of APM.
    (Not to say that this research is not valuable in its own right. Its far term targets are just maximally unrelated to R&D efforts targeting APM)

Main article: "Brownian technology path"

What APM actually is

APM is basically the capability of manufacturing products such that the atoms they are constituted of link (bind) to each other in "exactly" the way one desires them to. Since "absolute exactness" in other words "making no errors ever" is a fundamental physical impossibility one just aims for extremely low error rates. On the long run error rates comparable to the bit-error-rates one can find in todays digital data processing systems.

APM in the near term and APM in the far term

  • On this wiki "atomically precise manufacturing" (or APM) will be interpreted in a wider sense. Including both earlier precursor systems in the near term and the targeted later systems in the far term.
  • On this wiki the shorthand "gem-gum technology" will be used to refer to the far term target.
    A technically accurate description of the far term target technology would be:
    "atomically resolving gemstone based metamaterial manufacturing and technology"

For more details see the main article:
Near term and far term.

Take a tour

Take a guided tour: (Work in progress. Please excuse the links dangling into construction sites.)

Or take a shortcut directly from here:

What, Why, How, When

DEFINITION: About APM What APM is not and what it is.
MOTIVATION: Reasons for APM Why we need APM.
OBSTACLES: conceptual and institutional challenges What impedes progress towards APM.
APPROACH: Pathways to advanced APM How we get to advanced APM.
PROGRESSION: Time till advanced APM When we will get to advanced APM?

Also there are:

Misc:

  • Intro: Here is an old version of the landing page. Containing a detailed introduction to atomically precise manufacturing as a whole. (warning, lots of text)

Links

Webpages

Brief introduction videos




Locally hosted files