Timeline for Molecular Manufacturing

Molecular nanotechnology is one of those achievements of human ingenuity that has the capacity - some say likelihood - to cause major disruptive social and economic change. The changes will come faster and be much more profound than the invention of the steam engine, flight, atomic power and even information technology. If you are alive today - and I assume you are because you are reading this - then you are very likely to live to see the dawn of practical, applied molecular nanotechnology. This web site offers a gentle introduction to the fundamentals you need to understand to make tech-literate decisions when the time comes.

Timeline for Molecular Manufacturing

From the page:

Overview: Molecular manufacturing (MM) means the ability to build devices, machines, and eventually whole products with every atom in its specified place. Today the theories for using mechanical chemistry to directly fabricate nanoscale structures are well-developed and awaiting progress in enabling technologies. Assuming all this theory works, and no one has established a problem with it yet, exponential general-purpose molecular manufacturing appears to be inevitable. It might be become a reality by 2010, likely will by 2015, and almost certainly will by 2020. When it arrives, it will come quickly. MM can be built into a self-contained, tabletop factory that makes cheap products efficiently at molecular scale. The time from the first fabricator to a flood of powerful and complex products may be less than a year. The potential benefits of such a technology are immense. Unfortunately, the risks are also immense.

Military and Medical Exoskeleton Research

This post is the result of wondering what kind of robotic technology might be available for the next generation of space suit - one that can perform on planetary surfaces such as the Moon as well as in space. There were many "areas for improvement" with the original Apollo suits. Now, after many person-years of space flight we also know there are debilitating effects of micro-gravity on human bone and muscle tissue as well as other biological effects. These can't be discounted as we plan for long duration stays at a Lunar outpost. So thinking about strength and mobility in particular, is there useful technology to consider for inclusion in a next generation EVA suit? The answer is yes. Here is what I found:

Future Force Warrior

"FFW seeks to create a lightweight overwhelmingly lethal, fully integrated combat system including head to toe individual protection, ad-hoc networking, soldier worn power sources, and enhanced human performance. The program is aimed at providing unsurpassed individual and small team lethality, survivability, communications and responsiveness — a formidable warrior in an invincible team. FFW will be fully integrated with FCS and other Future Force platforms."

http://www.natick.army.mil/soldier/wsit/

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2004/n07272004_2004072705.html

http://rangermade.us/store/catalog/Army_Technology.php

http://rangermade.us/graphics/2020prototype.jpg

Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation

"The goal of the Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation Program is to develop devices and machines that will increase the speed, strength, and endurance of soldiers in combat environments. Projects will lead to self-powered, controlled, and wearable exoskeletal devices and/or machines and demonstrations of their utility in military applications. Inclusion of exoskeleton technology into land-based operations could radically alter the current military doctrine though significant increases in the
doctrine though significant increases in the load-carrying and power deliver capacity of the individual soldier. This technology will extend the mission payload and/or mission range of the soldier and increase the lethality and survivability of ground troops for short-range missions and special operations. Currently the program is evaluating exoskeleton prototypes with the goal of determining the best applications for exoskeleton technology in the near and far terms."

http://www.darpa.mil/dso/thrust/matdev/ehpa.htm

http://www.darpa.mil/dso/personnel/main.htm

Stand-Alone Wearable Power Assist Suit

"So how does it work? Sensor pads taped to the major muscle groups calculate how much force you need to pick up a patient. As you lift, the sensors send data to a microcomputer that triggers the business end of the system: a bunch of concertina-like limb and body actuators powered by compressed air."

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn1072

http://www.fujipress.jp/finder/xslt.php?mode=present&inputfile=ROBOT001700050011.xml

Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (BLEEX)

"The researchers point out that the human pilot does not need a joystick, button or special keyboard to "drive" the device. Rather, the machine is designed so that the pilot becomes an integral part of the exoskeleton, thus requiring no special training to use it. In the UC Berkeley experiments, the human pilot moved about a room wearing the 100-pound exoskeleton and a 70-pound backpack while feeling as if he were lugging a mere 5 pounds. The project, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, began in earnest in 2000."

http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/bleex.htm

http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/CV/BLEEX-Summary.pdf

http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/

http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/media.htm

http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/CV/Bleex-part3.mpg

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/03/040304195437.htm

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/03/03_exo.shtml

Yobotics: MIT Spin-Off: Robotic Powered Prosthetics

"The main reason for making this," Pratt explains, standing at the bottom of a small mock-up of a staircase in the company's spartan office, "was to prove we could do something super-human. I can do these" -- Pratt starts doing deep-knee bends using just his right leg -- "all day. With two of these knees, you'd be able to hike up mountains, or climb stairs, as long as your batteries hold out. We've done something super-human."

http://home.att.net/~kirsner/atlarge/082701.html

http://home.att.net/~kirsner/atlarge/yobotics.jpg

http://web.archive.org/web/20010913123027/digitalmass.boston.com/real_audio/roboknee.mpg

Other robotic exoskeleton projects

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ferrisdp/NSF/research.htm

http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Eferrisdp/UMHNL.html

http://robotics.eas.asu.edu/research.htm

http://www.eng.uci.edu/%7Edreinken/Biolab/biolab.htm

http://www.ri.cmu.edu/labs/lab_58.html

http://mechsys4.me.udel.edu/website/research/rehab/

http://www.media.mit.edu/research/ResearchPubWeb.pl?ID=1106

http://www.mems.rice.edu/%7Emahi/research.html

http://sanlab.kz.tsukuba.ac.jp/indexE.html

http://brl.ee.washington.edu/Research_Active/Exoskeleton/Exoskeleton_Index/htm

http://uwcreate.engr.wisc.edu/ResearchActivities.htm

http://www.ihmc.us/

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/engineering_science_technology/roboticsenergetics/humanamplifying.htm

http://www.ric.org/research/current_research.php

http://www.sarcos.com/

More News on Invisibility Shields

The Guardian reports about a new materials technology that can be used to create "superlenses" that make light behave in a very unusual way. Without going into a lot of physics, essentially what happens is that the reflection from the lens "cancels out" the original light, making the object invisible. Unfortunately, there are no links to the primary research documents which describe the technology in more detail.

About a year ago Physical Review Letters published an article by Andrea Alu, Nader Engheta on the topic of the use of "plasmonic covers" to reduce the total scattering cross section of objects, in effect rendering them invisible.

Condensed Matter, abstract
cond-mat/0502336: Achieving Transparency with Plasmonic Coatings

There is not enough information in the Guardian article to judge whether the approaches to transparency are similar or not. It is definitely interesting to note that there are at least these two fairly mature theoretical research/engineering projects underway.

Who has not had a dream of having the power of invisibility? Such a power could be fun, useful, and dangerous. If it were invented, how would people use it? How would governments use it? Although the research is early stage and there are practical bugs for implementation, the science and general engineering are good and it is only a matter of time before such a device is demonstrated.

Here are additional references on the nanoplasmonic research:

Nature 28 February 2005: Engineers Devise Invisibility Shield

PDF:
Nanofocusing_in_Tapered_Plasmonic_Waveguides