NANOTECHNOLOGY
 

Aug-07 Nanotechnology & Robotics

Last July, in the Robocup 2007 (a annual meting of robotics), there was a unique competition named nanosoccer, trying to be the first show of MEMS based nanorobots (weighting just a few nano-grams) “playing” soccer.

5 teams were included in this demonstration competition, 3 from USA, 1 from Switzerland and 1 from Canada.
You can watch here a video (48Mb) from the Switzerland team.

Next year 2008 it is expected to be separate event named “The Nanogram Leage”

MEMS will be the channel of communication, sensing or actuating between our world the macro world and the nano realm, in fact the current growing in production and industrialization of MEMS is just a fundamental step in the Nanotechnology evolution, paving the way to operate and work easily with nano scale devices, NEMS or any nanostructure.

Also the advances in robotics and Artificial intelligence, will be fundamental for the development of nanostructures with some degree of autonomy, being able to perform many advanced tasks either for industrial process or for example in nanomedicine.

© David Vivancos Cerezo,  vivancos@vivancos.com

 

 
 

Dec-06 Is Nanotechnology safe for human health?

Every time a new technology arrives, comes with doubts about its safety for health. This happened in the case of the microwave oven, or more recently with the cellular phones. It’s something simply inevitable, sometimes the economic interests prevail, but when we talk about human health, what must prevail is responsibility and common sense.

In the particular case of Nanotechnology, almost since its beginning, the debate about the safety for health begins too. At this time there is no scientific evidence to assume that in the way it reaches the final user, it’s dangerous at all. The fact is that everyday new products using nanotechnology reach the market, and its producers have conducted the necessary test to put their products in the market with the corresponding regulations.

Also one of the main lines of Nanoscience research is the one applied to medicine, and one of the biggest investments is done in its use for the cure for cancer.

Just as a recent example, a team from the Rice University and the University of Texas, has conducted the first in vivo tests of pure carbon nanotubes. The study tracked the nanotubes for 24 hours, and the preliminary results showed that they end only in the liver or kidneys, the natural organs that remove external compounds from the organism.

The use of Nanotechnology in biomedicine it’s simply fundamental, and it will be in continuous and profound research, for our safety and for the continuity of our scientific and technological progress.

© David Vivancos Cerezo,  vivancos@vivancos.com

 

 
 

Ago-05 NEMS (Nano-Electro-Mechanical-System)

In the past few years the MEMS (the Micro version of NEMS) started its way out of the labs to the industry with the “everything-on a chip” avalanche of related products.
In the case of the Lab on a chip (LOC), NEMS will be needed to perform most of the real lab works, like many advanced and real time analysis.
NEMS will be enabling most of the future developments of Nanotechnology.

The are four types of NEMS:
1.- Structures without moving parts (building blocks)
2.- Sensors (interpreting and transforming “nano signals” into electronic data)
3.- Actuators (the opposite of sensors, transforming electronic data into any physical change)
4.- Systems of Sensors, Actuators and other Interfaces.

The problem with the NEMS is that at the Nano scale the Quantum effects disable some of the interactions possible at the Micro scale, and there are many yet unknown effects to be simulated and tested. There is no doubt that simulation is a crucial for NEMS development.
The First Structures to appear are stronger and more durable diamond tips for the AFMs (Atomic Force Microscope). And most the research in Nanotechnology and Biotechnology in one way or another involves the development of NEMS.
In the near future NEMS systems will be the building blocks for all the instruments needed in for Nanotechnology.

For Space Exploration will also be crucial in computing, environmental protection, sensors, robotics, and many other applications.

© David Vivancos Cerezo,  vivancos@vivancos.com

 

 
 

Apr-05 Research in Nanotechnology applied to space propulsion started.

NANOESPACIO has started the research of the role and the impact of Nanotechnolgy applied to space propulsion. It will try to unleash the connections between the two fields and the impact of Nanotechnolgy in the development of ways to reach space at a lower cost, witch is the key to the future of Space Exploration.

© David Vivancos Cerezo,  vivancos@vivancos.com