NanoRobotic Systems

Lixin DongDr. Senior Research Scientist, Head of NanoRoboticsGroupInstitute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS)Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), ZurichZurich, SwitzerlandAbstract:Progress in robotics over the past years has dramatically extended our ability to explore the world at a variety of scales extending from the edges of the solar system down to individual atoms. At the bottom of this scale, technology has been moving toward greater control of the structure of matter, suggesting the feasibility of achieving thorough control of the molecular structure of matter atom by atom. Nanorobotics represents the next stage in miniaturization for maneuvering nanoscale objects. Nanorobotics is the study of robotics at the nanometer scale, and includes robots that are nanoscale in size and large robots capable of manipulating objects that have dimensions in the nanoscale range with nanometer resolution. Nanorobotic systems emphasize the engineering aspect of nanorobotics and include the manufacturing and application technologies of nanorobotic manipulation systems, nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), and nanorobots (nano-sized robots, which have yet to be realized).
The well-defined geometry, exceptional mechanical properties, and extraordinary electrical characteristics of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) qualify them for structuring such systems. Relative displacements between the atomically smooth, nested shells in multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) can be used as robust nanoscale motion enabling mechanisms for applications such as bearings, oscillators, shuttles, switches, memories, syringes, and actuators. The hollow structures of CNTs can serve as containers, conduits, pipettes, and coaxial cables for storing mass and charge, or for transport. On the other hand, novel helical nanostructures are created through a top-down fabrication process in which a strained nanometer thick heteroepitaxial bilayer such as SiGe/Si and InGaAs/GaAs curls up to form 3D structures with nanoscale features such as tubes, coils, rings, and spirals. Because of their interesting morphology, mechanical, electrical, and electromagnetic properties, potential applications of these nanostructures include springs, electromechanical sensors, magnetic field detectors, chemical or biological sensors, and inductors.
Shrinking device size to nanometer scales presents many fascinating opportunities such as manipulating nanoobjects with nanotools, measuring mass in zeptogram ranges, sensing forces at piconewton scales, and inducing gigahertz motion, among other new possibilities waiting to be discovered. Nanorobotic manipulation is a promising technology for structuring, characterizing and assembling nano building blocks into NEMS. Combined with recently developed nanofabrication processes, the technological progress on building nanorobotic systems from shell engineered CNTs and rolled up SiGe/Si and InGaAs/GaAs helical nanostructures is presented focusing on nanotube linear servo motors, nanorobotic spot welders using copper-filled nanotubes, and helical nanobelt motion converters.Lixin Dong is Senior Research Scientist at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zurich), where he leads the NanoRobotics Group in the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS). He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Xi'an University of Technology (XUT) in 1989 and 1992, respectively. He became Research Associate in 1992, Lecturer in 1995, and Associate Professor in 1998 at XUT. He has served as the head of the Department of Mechatronics Engineering at XUT from 1997 to 1999. He received his Ph.D. degree in Micro Systems Engineering from Nagoya University in 2003, and became Assistant Professor at Nagoya University in 2003. In 2004 he joined ETH Zurich as a Research Scientist. His main research interests include nanorobotics, mechatronics, nanoelectromechnical systems (NEMS), mechnochemistry, and biomedical devices. He received the IEEE T-ASE Googol Best New Application Paper Award in 2007, Best Conference Paper Award at the Int. Conf. on Control Sci. and Engr. (ICCSE2003), and Finalist in the Best Paper Competition at IEEE-ICRA2007, IROS2005, and ICRA2001. He has been awarded the Science and Technology Advancement Prize by the Ministry of Education of China in 1999, by Shaanxi Province Government in 1999 and 1995, by Xi'an City Government in 1999, and by the Ministry of Machine-Building Industry of China in 1998 and 1992. He serves on the editorial board of the IEEE Trans. on Nanotechnology and the IEEE Trans. on Automation Science and Engineering.

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