Revision as of 22:18, 25 November 2013

Overview

At the current technology level we have a top-down - bottom-up - technology-gap which is about to close.

At the top-down side we have:

• MEMS technology (e.g. grippers, MEMS AFM)
• microelectronics (e.g. for electrostatic actuation)
  
• AFM arrays (cruder then singe tip AFMs)
• other [add if you know relevant ones]
  

At the bottom-up side we have:

• structural 3D DNA nanotechnology^[1] & Co (self assembling structures)
  
• foldamers designed for predictable folding (e.g. synthetic proteins)
  
• polyoxymetalates (POMs)
  
• patterned layer epitaxy with scanning tunneling microscopes (STM)
  
• other [add if you know relevant ones]

[TODO clarify the problems]

Capabilities, Limits and Unknowns

Mechanical and micromechanical systems such as AFMs and MEMS are generally very slow to slow. [TODO add quantitative numbers]
beside the problem of yet unstable tooltips It seems certain that they are to slow to do atom by atom assambly.
To investigate: Will they be fast enough to do e.g. 3DDNA-block by 3DDNA-block assembly?

Electric fields generated by microelectronics acting on a 3DDNA or an other type of block-structure in machine phase provide less degrees of freedome than a mechanical gripper. More problematically the blocks need to be made dielectric or charged to be effected by the field.
To investigate: Can blocks/block structures be made dielectric or charged?

The size of the smallest possible MEMS grippers and 3DDNA-blocks aren't overlapping yet [TODO add size comparison], that is the tip radius of the grippers tend to be reater than dte 3DDNA block sizes. So they need to be aggregated to even bigger sizes to be grippable.
To inverstiate:

• Can 3DDNA-blocks be hirachically self assembled, that is can the blocks surfaces be glued together by adding strands in a second step?
• Alternatively do complementary surfaces stick by VdW interaction even though the strands doesn't match?
  

To be usable for somewhat functional robotic applications the blocks need to fulfill some criteria:
To investigate:

• Can an axle bearing system be built that runs non self distructively wit sub blocksize precesicion?
• Can the blocks bind strong enough together to avoid falling apart when actuated?
• Are the surfaces of 3DDNA blocks made with half strands, that is are there surfaces smooth ore more like a hairy ball) [TODO dig out the known answer]
• Can two blocks be connected with a edge to edge hinge? (similar to the hirachical assembly question)

To use electric fields as input the block structures need to provide at least one internal 1D degree of freedome which can be compressed to 0D (machine phase)
To investigate: How to create minimal sized block structures for mechanical or electrostatical acutation that are productive and capable of self replication?

Proposals for the step from T.Level 0 to 1

[TODO to myself: add the one I've archived] Technology Level I

Investigation Results

Space for investiganion results and further investigation-directions:

[yet empty]

Modular Molecular Composite Nanosystems (MMCS)

[...]

Medicine

The exclusive interest in medical devices of T.Level 0 motivated by near term benefits drives development now.
With rising technology levels we want to get further and further away from biological nanosystems though.
Therefore a situationmay where no dedicatet non medical research is done might let us be stuck for a quite longr time than necessary.

References

1. ↑ "Cryo-EM structure of a 3D DNA-origami object" Xiao-chen Bai, Thomas G. Martin, Sjors H. W. Scheres, Hendrik Dietz

DNA screw