A nanorobotic arm with claws that can pick up extremely small objects.
Scientists expect nanobots made from genetic materials to hit the market within the next five to ten years. These nanodevices could probe for deadly pathogens in the human body, deliver drugs, and even assist in the manufacture of smaller electronic devices, with a wide range of applications.
Robots made from genetic materials are automated devices that combine tiny pieces of DNA into various required parts such as imaging motors and hinges, and then assemble them together to move on their own and perform a range of tasks within an organism.
Researchers at The Ohio State University (USA) have invented software that reduces the time it takes to design such robots from the days previously required to minutes, and allows more complex robots to be designed.
Increased number of parts
Previously, we designed devices that contained up to six parts connected to move,” said Hai-Jun Su, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ohio State University, one of the researchers. With this new software, it’s not difficult to design devices with up to 20 parts, and it’s much easier to control. This is a big advance in the field of nano-device design.”
Three-dimensional design
Previously, researchers could only design in a two-dimensional plane and then project a three-dimensional object. This software allows researchers to design directly in three dimensions, so the designs that can be completed are now much more complex.
Two design ideas
In addition, the software supports two design ideas, both from partial to whole and from whole to partial, which is an important advancement in helping complex designs.
Local-to-whole means that researchers design local structures with DNA fragments first, which allows them to precisely design the properties of the local structure and maintain precise control over it. Going from whole to local means that researchers first decide on the overall geometry of the device and then consider how the DNA fragments can be pieced together as needed to meet the requirements of the whole.
Using these two design ideas together, it is possible to design nanodevices with more complex geometries and maintain precise control over the individual components.
Simulation of operation
Another important advantage of the software is that designers can simulate within the software how the device will move and be used in the real world. As structures increase in complexity, it’s hard to estimate how they’ll end up looking and behaving,” says co-investigator Carlos Castro, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. So it’s important to be able to simulate their operation, otherwise it would waste a lot of our time.”
An “airplane” a thousandth the size of a hair
The researchers designed several devices to demonstrate the software’s capabilities, including a robotic arm with claws for grasping very small objects, and an “airplane-like” structure only a hundred nanometers in size. Such an “airplane” is only a thousandth of a human hair that small.
Castro said that more complex robots mean that more things can be done, even the same device can complete a variety of tasks. For example, the previous device can only enter the organism to detect the presence of deadly pathogens, more sophisticated robots can find the pathogen after it will be captured, or targeted release of drugs to deal with it.
The commercial benefits of DNA nanotechnology are becoming clearer,” Castro said. I estimate that within the next five to 10 years we will see commercial DNA nanodevices. We are confident that this software will help drive that goal.”
The study was published April 19 in the journal Nature Materials.
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