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How to mass produce cell-sized robots - C C - Oct 25, 2018

http://news.mit.edu/2018/how-mass-produce-cell-sized-robots-1023

EXCERPT: Tiny robots no bigger than a cell could be mass-produced using a new method developed by researchers at MIT. The microscopic devices, which the team calls “syncells” (short for synthetic cells), might eventually be used to monitor conditions inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to search out disease while floating through the bloodstream.

The key to making such tiny devices in large quantities lies in a method the team developed for controlling the natural fracturing process of atomically-thin, brittle materials, directing the fracture lines so that they produce miniscule pockets of a predictable size and shape. Embedded inside these pockets are electronic circuits and materials that can collect, record, and output data.

The novel process, called “autoperforation,” is described in a paper published today in the journal Nature Materials, by MIT Professor Michael Strano, postdoc Pingwei Liu, graduate student Albert Liu, and eight others at MIT.

The system uses a two-dimensional form of carbon called graphene, which forms the outer structure of the tiny syncells. One layer of the material is laid down on a surface, then tiny dots of a polymer material, containing the electronics for the devices, are deposited by a sophisticated laboratory version of an inkjet printer. Then, a second layer of graphene is laid on top...

MORE: http://news.mit.edu/2018/how-mass-produce-cell-sized-robots-1023


RE: How to mass produce cell-sized robots - stryder - Nov 1, 2018

I think people are still considering to go about this all wrong.

In regards to a living organism, the entire systems in use are a delicate equilibrium. If the volume of a persons blood or other fluids was suddenly increased through some "inert" compounds which the body doesn't identify as working with it, those "bots" could end up triggering an Anaphylactic Shock or to a lesser extent the body calcifying the surroundings of it to create a cyst.

So that brings the question of how to produce something to do the job of a "bot" but without them physically existing in places where they could bring about such reactions.

Currently this is where I consider the fringe discussion of simulation theory as being the most practical solution. The concept being that if we could prove how the universe works as a simulation, mankind could get to the point of injecting a code variant of bot into it's makeup so literally the physical environment becomes a bot matrix. It would be difficult for the body to trigger a reaction to something that is literally the environment in which its in. Of course this is just a very simplified explanation and doesn't go into the depths of what framework would be applied and due to it's fringe nature people aren't going to be as open to it as a prospect which is an unfortunate egress.