Nanotechnology Now

Nanotechnology is based on the concept of tiny, self-replicating robots. The Utility Fog is a very simple extension of the idea: Suppose, instead of building the object you want atom by atom , the tiny robots linked their arms together to form a solid mass in the shape of the object you wanted? Then, when you got tired of that avant-garde coffeetable, the robots could simply shift around a little and you'd have an elegant Queen Anne piece instead.

• Creation--causing objects to appear and disappear on command.
• Levitation--causing objects to hover and fly around.
• Manipulation--causing forces (squeezing, hitting, pulling) on objects (real ones) at a distance.
• Teleportation--nearly any combination of telepresence and virtual reality between fog-filled locations

Utility Fog: The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of By J. Storrs Hall. He discusses the technical details and feasibility of how a swarm of nanobots ("Foglets") that can take the shape of virtually anything. Also covered are some of the possibilities.

"Imagine a microscopic robot. It has a body about the size of a human cell and 12 arms sticking out in all directions. A bucketfull of such robots might form a 'robot crystal' by linking their arms up into a lattice structure. Now take a room, with people, furniture, and other objects in it -- it's still mostly empty air. Fill the air completely full of robots. The robots are called Foglets and the substance they form is Utility Fog, which may have many useful medical applications. And when a number of utility foglets hold hands with their neighbors, they form a reconfigurable array of 'smart matter.'" Dr. J. Storrs Hall Research Fellow of the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing.