ME 465 Introduction to Nanotechnology Department of Mechanical Engineering and Energy Processes Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Spring 2005

Term Paper Nanorobot Mechanocompatibility

Submitted By Marcus Mighty

Submission Date: 05/05/2005

What if someone was able to get rid of a common cold by having a nanorobot kill of the germs within their bodies? What is someone was able to fight the HIV virus by having nanorobots go through the body and kill the virus internally? These are some examples of using nanotechnology and nanorobots to cure medical diseases and to cure other human ailments. Doctors and other experts in the medical field have gained much interest in the field of mechanocompatibility for the human body in the past few years. The purpose is to create a nanorobot that is able to both chemically and physically within the human body. Although there are currently biomedical instruments and procedures used by physicians to explore tissues and cells, there is a new field of interest in exploring the human body with nanorobots. These nanorobots must pass through a persons body with causing excessive bruising, itching, and other disturbances. The key for success in this field of study is finding a way nanorobots can perform the maximum amount of biomedical with the least amount of irritation and other possible illnesses to the patient. This paper intends to discuss the following: Mechanical interaction with human integument, histopenetration and perforation, vascular mechanocompatibility, mechanocompatibility with extracellular matrix and tissue cells, mechanocompatibility with nontissue cells, electrocompatibility, cytomembrane and intracellular mechanocompatibility, and nanorobot-nanorobot mechanocompatibility. Compatibility is defined as a system capable of being designed to work with another system or device without modification. Nanorobots must be mechanically able to withstand interaction not only with other tissues and cells, but also other nanorobots interacting within the body. The earliest documentation of implants into the human body occurred in the early twentieth century. According to Freitas, The earliest

successful medical implants were bone plates, first introduced in the 1900s to stabilize bone fractures and assist in the healing of skeletal fractures (7). One study that has been looked at has been the ways in which nanorobots are designed. Much improvements and advancements in the field of medicine has been done during this time, including more innovative implant procedures such as heart, kidney, lungs, and other facial and muscular implants. Nanorobot implants into the human body, like other elements that are implanted into the human, must be studied for any and all side effects that it will have on a particular patient. Since these nanorobots are extremely small, there have been suggestions that the nanorobots be made of diamond and diamondoids since current medical nano-scaled robots are made of this material. This has focused the study of nanorobots on mechanocompatibility. The term mechanocompatibility refers to the mechanical ability of a nanorobot to react to human body so as not to disturb other biological functions of the body. This situation pertains to the mechanical interaction of nanorobots with the human body, or mechanical interaction with human integument. With nanorobots performing various duties around the body, there would be reasons to consider whether these nanorobots would cause irritation around different areas of the body. One irritation that the nanorobot could cause is excessive itching. This could happen around areas such as the ears or the mouth. There is also concern that this itching sensation caused by the nanorobot could happen internally, which could cause interruption into the nerves of the body as well as the activity in other functions of the body which might give off certain unwanted impulses. Freitas stated that to avoid chemical irritation by a nanorobot, Nanorobots should be designed with chemically nonpruitic (non-itching) external surfaces (125). Chemical irritation should also be

avoided due to the fact that with nanorobots traveling possibly throughout the body, certain chemicals might be hazardous to a persons heath and cause unwanted side effects. Another area that needs to be studied in this area is the size of the actual nanorobot. There would have to be a nanorobot that is smaller than an actual dust mite that causes irritation, yet be able to fully be effective medically for the human body. Another process that must be studied is whether the injections of the nanorobots will be felt in the human body. There are many ways in which the nanorobot can enter the body. However, the nanorobot will be able to penetrate the body through going through the skin. With several acupuncture methods currently used that can barely be felt, it should not be an issue of whether the nanorobot will be felt. Freitas stated that, Hyperdermic injections can produce a sensation of fluid flowing into the veins due to a thermal and viscosity mismatch between injecta and venous blood, a slight vein expansion from local rise in fluid pressure, fluid shear forces, and a direct chemical response (126). There has been valuable research done on the entry of nanorobots into the human body. Adriano Cavalcanti performed some research which described the design and simulation of a nanorobot that performs biomedical duties. On the next page is a three dimensional that shows the actual nanorobot acting on the surface of the human skin:

Figure 1: top camera view of nanorobots on human skin The second figure that is shown below is a picture of the nanorobot penetrating the human skin:

Figure 2: Nanorobot Penetration of the Human Skin Although there are studies being done to test epidermal penetration, there are still issues that need to be solved. One issue is how to avoid ulcers from a prolonged mechanical

pressure of the human tissue. This is particularly important for people who are bedridden for extended amount of time as well as people who are in wheelchairs. Medical Nanorobots must be able to pass through the human skin and its tissue without causing bruising or any other type of medical trauma. According to Freitas, Past studies have shown that the percutaneous penetration of passive microspheres is a functioin of particle diameter(127). If the nanorobots are entered through the body with precaution, then this might leave opening in the skin which can be exposed to not only atmosphere, but also other diseases that can penetrate the body. Cavalcanti performed this type of operation in his research by using the nanorobot in an innovative way. The nanorobot was to behave like a ribosome in the human body, which is a natural molecular system. Included inside the robot is a motor sensor that looks for any given ailment that needs to be cured. Below is a sketch of this diagram:

Figure 3: Nanorobot with sensor device Many studies have been done about the entry of the nanorobot into the body. However, the most common agreement about the nanorobot is that is must be able to someone enter

the human body through the blood vessels. Histopenetration effects can be avoided by using a lipophilic coating. Vascular Mechanocompatibility is very important in making sure that the nanorobot is able to enter the blood vessel without making the blood vessel walls rigid, which could result in a stroke. Freitas also notes that, another risk of nanorobots penetrating and residing in the vascular integument is a potential weakening of the vessel wall. This weakening could increase the probability of aneurysm formation or direct rupture of the vascular endothelium(129). Another factor that affects vascular mechanocompatibility is fluid shear stress. The nanorobot must be able to react positively to the fluid shear stress in the body without changing shape or changing its molecular shape. A third factor that affects the vascular setup is the stretch forces. Vascular cells tend to stretch laterally, and the nanorobotics design must be able to take into account they cyclic strains of cells already present in the human body. Another important aspect to the vascular cell wall is that there must be more study into the nanorobots influence on stenting. Stenting is defined as a flexible metal coil or openmesh tube that is surgically inserted into a narrowed artery, then expanded and pressed into the vascular wall at up to 10-20 atm pressure (131). The type of stent used for the vascular wall is important to ensure that the stent will not erode and rupture the aorta. Freidas was quoted as saying that, Medical nanorobots that entirely cover the vascular endothelium can precisely regulate wall oxygenation by controlled oxygenation of the underlying tissue, using oxygen sourced directly from the blood(132). Another type of vascular influence that must be studied is nanorobotic destructive mechanical vasculopathies. As noted by Friedas, there are three types of injuries associated with this:

Type I, Type II, and Type III injuries. Type I injuries involve no significant loss of the vessels basic cellular architecture. Type II involves the loss of an endothelial layer, inducing platelets to adhere and forming a thrombus at the area of loss. Type III involves transmural damage in which the endothelium is removed (133). Although nanorobots will be able to withstand Type I injuries, they should avoid Type II and III. Another type Lastly, a vascular influence that needs to be studied is a nanorobotic lacerative vasculopathy. For nanorobots to be effective in the human vascular system, there will have to void of any sharp edges that may scrape and lacerate the vascular cell. These nanorobots will also have to produce minimal, if any, shear forces. One project that was done entailed the nanorobot is built mostly with a graphic user interface (GUI). This design, if altered, can cause minimum disturbance for causing itching and scraping. The makeup of this nanorobot is shown in the figure below:

Figure 4: Platform Makeup of a Nanorobot If this platform is able to be smoothed out at the power floor and around the edges, the nanorobot will be able to work efficiently without the fear of scraping, bruising, and/or lacerating the vascular wall cell. However this field of study is in the early stages and will continue to be investigated. Another field in this area that should be studied is the biological response of the vascular walls when the sides are hit with the nanorobots. The

reaction of the body to these reactions would greatly improve the advantages and disadvantages of the nanorobots residing in the body. Nanorobot Compatibility with non-tissue cells is also another important issue that needs to be addressed when using nanorobots for the human body. Protecting red blood cells and the platelets in the human body is of great important because these are the cells that protect the body from diseases such as leukemia and other cancer-inducing cells. Although white blood cells are could be affected, they are of less importance than of the red blood cells. The average ratio of white blood cells (WBCs) to red blood cells (RBCs) is about 1 to 740. Therefore the red blood cells outnumber the white blood cells by many, although for leukemia patients this number is smaller. There is much worry for RBCs in that with installing nanorobots, they could be at risk or hemolysis, or RBC breakdown. Also RBCs would be at risk for schistocytes, or a process in which rigid RBCs are destroyed by circulation. One immediate solution for this problem would be to incorporate a drug which makes RBCs more elastic. Platelets are also important in that they are necessary for blood clotting. There are about 2 trillion platelets in the human body and they are needed for collisions. There is so much force needed to separate platelets, therefore separation is not likely to happen without some sort of heavy force to separate them. Therefore, although platelets are important when studying the effects of nanorobotic techniques, platelets are not as important as the red blood cell. That being said, platelets could affect the nanorobot in that since platelets aggregate, they could gather around a nanorobot. This problem would have to be investigated to make sure that the nanorobot is able to function fully without the interference of platelets surrounding it and limiting the nanorobots movement.

Another study with nanorobot compatibility would be electrocompatibility. Medical nanorobots must be electrically biocompatible with living cells and tissues (Freitas 143). Electrocompatibility would be important in that if a nanorobot is made out of some sort of diamond or diamonoid, the diamond material would have to be check for any possible electric current. It has been proven that biological stimulation can alter electrical characteristics of a cell. These studies could be of much use if scientist would want to put sensors inside a nanorobot. In Cavalcanti report, the workings of a nanorobot is greatly influenced by sensors that would be installed inside the robot. Below is the diagram scheme for the making of the nanorobot:

Figure 5: Multimodular System Architecture for a Nanorobot Studying electrocompatibility techniques is helpful in that full knowledge of its workings will help avoid any type of problems in the human body such as electric shock, electrocution, or constant electricity that could possibly kill nerve endings and cause other medical problems. When studying electrocompatibility, electric calculations should be detailed with a complete analysis. This would also include using programs such as MATLAB which can give a better representation of calculations and electric setup.

MATLAB would also be helpful in that it could also give a complete design system control setup that would be able to decide not only how much electricity is needed, but where the electricity would be distributed. Another area in electrocompatibility that is being studied involves using an electron beam induced deposition or EBID. This technique involves using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) to create a nanofabrication of the electric instruments, which will improve the nanorobotic instrument. This process continues to be investigated and is currently in design phase. Cytomembrane and Intracellular Mechanocompatibility is important in that nanorobots must be able to avoid causing shock wave damage. This aspect of mechanocompatibility is important in that it studies mechanical cell membrane disruptions, natural cell membrane wounding, cytopuncture resealing, mechanical cytoskeleton disorganization, and organelle membrane breach among other things. Nanorobot-nanorobot mechanocompatibility will be the last aspect that will be studied. Studying the collisions of nanorobots with one another is crucial in investigating whether there are either advantages or disadvantages with nanorobots interacting with one another. The clumping of different nanorobots with one another could be a harmful thing if they contain chemicals that are detrimental to one another. Another aspect of this nanorobot-nanorobot situation that must be studied would be the velocities of the nanorobots. Analyzing whether the nanorobots must have the same velocity or different velocities would greatly effect collisions between the different nanorobots that would travel inside the human body. The structure of the nanorobots would also affect how the collisions would have an effect. If the structures are all made of diamonds, the collisions might not be as detrimental than if one nanorobot was made

of diamond while the other nanorobot was made of a diamonoid. The fully analyze the nanorobot-nanorobot mechanocompatibility, scientists would have to not only study velocity, but they would also have to study material, density, chemical composition, as well as the collision force. In conclusion, the investigation and implementation of Nanorobot Mechanocompatibility could have many advantages for helping the humans and animals alike against ailments. However, much more research and improvements would need to be made in how the nanorobots are able to interact with the different cells and integument within the human body. Preciseness would be crucial in operating these nanorobot devices because if the nanorobot is too aggressive, it could fatal to a person by way of stroke or other diseases. This subject matter garners interest in that if there is a scientific find that can advance the subject matters discussed, the use of the nanorobots could be endless. These nanorobots could cure the HIV virus, or it could cure leukemia, cancer and other diseases that cause loss of life in the world today. Scientist today are using models for nanorobot mechanocompatiblility by using scanning electron microscopes among others to scale down different chemicals and materials and sensor devices so that nanorobots can be created. The potential of this field is endless and there will be major advancements in this field in years to come.

Works Cited Calvalcanti, A. Assembly automation with evolutionary nanorobots sensor-based control applied to nanomedicine IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, v 2, n 2, June, 2003, p 82-87 Dong, L. 3D nanoassembly of carbon nanotubes through nanorobotic manipulations IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, v 2, 2002, p 1477-1482 Freitas Jr., R. Nanomedicine Volume IIA: Biocompatibility Martel, S. Toward Nanorobotics Platform for High-Throughput Applications at the Nanometer-Scale Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology - Proceedings v 3, 2002, p 1815-1816