Introduction to Nanorobots and Its Medical Applications

Nano Robotics is the technology of creating machines or robots close to the microscopic scale of a nanometer (10−9 meters). Nanorobotics refers to nanotechnology – an engineering discipline for designing and building nanorobots. These devices range from 0.1-10 micrometers and are made up of nano scale or molecular components. As no artificial, non-biological Nano robots have yet been created, they remain a pretending concept. The names nanorobots, nanoids, nanites or nanomites have also been used to describe these hypothetical devices.

Nano robots can be used in different application areas such as medicine and space technology. Nowadays, these nanorobots play a crucial role in the field of Bio-Medicine, particularly for the treatment of cancer, cerebral Aneurysm, removal of kidney stones, elimination of defected parts in the DNA structure, and for some other treatments that need utmost support to save human lives.

Nanorobots are nano devices used for the purpose of maintaining and protecting the human body against pathogens. Nanorobots are implemented by using several components such as sensors, actuators, control, power, communication and by interfacing cross-special scales between organic inorganic systems.

The development of nanorobots is done by using various approaches such as:

Biochip

The combination of nanotechnology, photo-lithography and new biomaterials, can be considered as a possible way required for designing technology to develop nanorobots for medical applications such as diagnosis and drug delivery. This realistic approach in designing nanorobots is a methodology which is used in the electronic industries.

Nubots

Nubot is an acronym for “nucleic acid robots.” Nubots are manmade robotics devices at the Nanoscale. Representative nubots includes numerous Deoxy Nucleic Acid walkers reported by Ned Seeman’s group at NYU, Niles Pierce’s group at Caltech, John Reif’s group at Duke University, Chengde Mao’s group at Purdue, and Andrew Turberfield’s group at the University of Oxford.

Positional Nanoassembly

In the year 2000, Robert Frietas and Ralph Merkle found nanofactory collaboration which is an ongoing effort consisting of ten organizations with 23 researchers from four countries. This collaboration aims at developing positionally controlled mechanosynthesis and diamondoid nanofactory which is capable of constructing a diamondoid medical nanorobot.

Usage of Bacteria

This approach makes use of biological microorganisms, such as Escherichia coil bacteria. So this model uses a flagellum for propulsion purpose. The use of electromagnetic fields is to control the motion of biological integrated device and its limited applications.

Nanorobots Applications

1. Nanorobotics in Surgery

Surgical nanorobots are introduced into the human body through vascular systems and other cavities. Surgical nanorobots act as semi-autonomous on-site surgeon inside the human body and are programmed or directed by a human surgeon. This programmed surgical nanorobot performs various functions like searching for pathogens, and then diagnosis and correction of lesions by nano-manipulation synchronized by an on-board computer while conserving and contacting with the supervisory surgeon through coded ultrasound signals.

Nowadays, the earlier forms of cellular nano-surgery are being explored. For example, a micropipette rapidly vibrating at a frequency of 100 Hz micropipette comparatively less than 1 micron tip diameter is used to cut dendrites from single neurons. This process is not ought to damage the cell capability.

2. Diagnosis and Testing

Medical nanorobots are used for the purpose of diagnosis, testing and monitoring of microorganisms, tissues and cells in the blood stream. These nanorobots are capable of noting down the record, and report some vital signs such as temperature, pressure and immune system’s parameters of different parts of the human body continuously.

3. Nanorobotics in Gene Therapy

Nanorobots are also applicable in treating genetic diseases, by relating the molecular structures of DNA and proteins in the cell. The modifications and irregularities in the DNA and protein sequences are then corrected (edited). The chromosomal replacement therapy is very efficient compared to the cell repair. An assembled repair vessel is inbuilt in the human body to perform the maintenance of genetics by floating inside the nucleus of a cell.

Supercoil of DNA when enlarged within its lower pair of robotic arms, the nanomachine pulls the strand which is unwounded for analysis; meanwhile the upper arms detach the proteins from the chain. The information which is stored in the large nanocomputer’s database is placed outside the nucleus and compared with the molecular structures of both DNA and proteins that are connected through communication link to cell repair ship. Abnormalities found in the structures are corrected, and the proteins reattached to the Deoxy Nucleic Acid chain once again reforms into their original form.

4. Nanorobots in Cancer Detection and Treatment

The current stages of medical technologies and therapy tools are used for the successful treatment of cancer. The important aspect to achieve a successful treatment is based on the improvement of efficient drug delivery to decrease the side-effects from the chemotherapy.

Nanorobots with embedded chemical biosensors are used for detecting the tumor cells in early stages of cancer development inside a patient’s body. Nanosensors are also utilized to find the intensity of E-cadherin signals.

5. Nanodentistry is one of the topmost applications as nanorobots help in different processes involved in dentistry. These nanorobots are helpful in desensitizing tooth, oral anesthesia, straightening of irregular set of teeth and improvement of the teeth durability, major tooth repairs and improvement of the appearance of teeth, etc.

6. Nanorobots can also be used as ancillary devices for processing different chemical reactions in the affected organs. These robots are also useful for monitoring and controlling glucose levels in diabetic patients.

Robotic Projects

The list of robotic projects includes the following.

1. Infrared Controlled Robotic Vehicle
2. Radio Frequency Controlled Robotic Vehicle With Laser Beam Arrangement
3. 8051 Microcontroller Based Line Following Robotic Vehicle
4. Controlling and Movement of Pick and Place Robotic Arm by Using Android Wirelessly
5. Voice Controlled Robotic Vehicle by Long Distance Speech Recognition
6. Metal Detector Robotic Vehicle
7. Pick N Place with Soft Catching Gripper
8. Fire Fighting Robotic Vehicle using 8051 Microcontroller
9. Radio Frequency Controlled Robot with Night Vision Wireless Camera for Spying in War Field
10. Fire Fighting Robot Remotely Operated with Android Applications
11. Personal Computer Controlled Wireless Multi Purpose Robot.
12. Dual Tone Multi Frequency based Mobile Phone Controlled Robot
13. Digital Compass and Global Positioning System Based Self Navigation System
14. Auto Metro Trains that Shuttle between Two Stations

This is all about nanorobotics applications in medical field such as surgery, diagnosis and testing, gene therapy, cancer detection and treatment, nano dentistry, etc. The project list provided in this article is quite useful for engineering students for robotics projects. Furthermore, for any help regarding this topic, you can contact us by commenting in the comment section given below.

Photo Credits:

• Nanorobots by themarysue
• Nanorobotics in Surgery by yolasite
• Nanodentistry by njms
• Robotic Projects by dti