Society of Robots - Robot Forum
General Misc => Misc => Topic started by: khazar on November 29, 2007, 06:34:39 PM
-
hi! im writting this post because i would like to ask you if u could tell me (or link me a site) with information about nanotech, and the level of development it has now, and what will it have in 30 years... whats your opinion about nanotech?
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology
-
This is kind of interesting seeing as how I'm in a first lego league team and last year our topic was about nanotechnology. As you might already know there are many branches of nanotechnology some are about nanotechnology in clothes (such as flexible cloth as strong as titanium), or it's being experimented with to make very small robots used to kill tumors. Its also being experimented with in cosmetics. It's very hard to find information on nanotechnology beacause it's just beginning.
-
i *really* wanna go into nanotechnology, and im a senior in high school so this is my chance!
Now, schools dont really offer nantech as a major (if someone knows a school with this major can you plz let me know)!
what do you have to do to enter this field? Do you just major in some kind of engineering? and find a profressor or anyone with a project?
-
The future of nanotech will be like this!
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0060397/trailers-screenplay-E14113-310
They will shrink people in little spaceships and put them into people's bodies with lasers to cure disease!
(http://www.cinemaretro.com/uploads/fantasticvoyagequad.jpg)
(no, I'm not being serious)
what do you have to do to enter this field? Do you just major in some kind of engineering? and find a profressor or anyone with a project?
Back in college I did research at the CMU NanoRobotics lab and also took a course on nano-robotics . . . its more physics and chemistry then it is robotics . . . and its very very expensive to do . . . If you want to do it, volunteer to help out at a college lab and they will teach you stuff in return . . .
One day Ill write a tutorial on the basics . . .
-
nanotechnology is being used in fabrics and cosmetics already along with a lot of other products. Its quite uninteresting right now, it just means using extremely small pieces of things, such as shape fabric molecules to repel water in one particular direction hence making the fabric waterproof.
The interesting part is actually building nanobots, which can do many jobs such as actually building the nanostructures that we physically cant. Until there is a major breakthrough in nanobotics, the term nanotechnology probably wont instil much excitement and not really be used when describing products even though they are developed on a nanotech level.
-
I would say the majority of people involved in nanotech are either Chemistry, Electrical Engineering or Physics majors. Here's a breakdown
Chemistry: Understand fabrication process and how to actually make nanostructures
Electrical Engineering: Designing nanodevices
Physics: Understand the quantum physics behind nanotechnology
It is an extremely multidisciplinary field (like robotics), so learning to work with other people is crucial. Chemistry majors are useful in just about any nanotechnology field, though so that might be a good major to start out with while you feel around.
Rice University has a very good nanotech program, probably the best in the country (maybe even the world) in topics involving carbon nanotubes. If you are in the midwest and are looking for a college that isn't way out on the coast it is your best choice by far. They also let undergraduates help out with research, although you probably won't be doing much on your own (maybe as an upperclassmen....maybe). Also, check out this program, which I did this summer and you can do in 2 summers. You get to go to Japan for 3 months and research nanotechnology in a Japanese laboratory. I research semiconductor fabrication and learned a TON!
www.nanojapan.rice.edu Top notch program!
Anyway, nanotech is a HUGE field (ironic, huh?), so there's a lot of different applications. Nanomaterials seem to be the most promising field and are making the largest progress, in my opinion.
-
this is probably the closest you will find to nanorobotics:
http://www.memx.com/products.htm
(great pics!)
Also, click on the links that say Mirror towards the top - great nanotech videos!
(http://www.memx.com/video/MEMS%20Electrostatic%20Actuator.gif)
(electrostatic MEMS comb drive)