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Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

KMCT College oI Engineering 1 Dept oI InIormation Technology




1. INTRODUCTION

Imagine a microscopic robot. It has a body about the size oI a human cell and 12 arms
sticking out in all directions. A bucketIul oI such robots might Iorm a "robot crystal" by
linking their arms up into a lattice structure. Now take a room, with people, Iurniture, and
other objects in it still mostly empty air. Fill the air completely Iull oI robots .With the right
programming, the robots can exert any Iorce in any direction on the surIace oI any object.
They can support the object, so that it apparently Iloats in the air. They can support a person,
applying the same pressures to the seat oI the pants that a chair would. They can exert the
same resisting Iorces that elbows and Iingertips would receive Irom the arms and back oI the
chair. A program running in the Utility Fog can thus simulate the physical existence oI
an object.
Although this class oI Nanotechnology has been envisioned by the technocracy since early
times, and has been available to us Ior over twenty years, the name is more recent. A
mundane scientist, J. Storrs Hall provided an important baseline examination oI the issues
involved in the application and design oI Utility Iog. He envisioned it as an active
polymorphic material designed as a conglomeration oI 100-micron robotic cells or Iog lets,
built using molecular Nanotechnology. An appropriate mass oI Utility Fog could be
programmed to simulate, to the same precision as measured by human senses, most oI the
physical properties, such as hardness, temperature, light, oI any macroscopic object,
including expected objects such as tables and Ians, but also materials such as air and water.
The major exceptions would be taste, smell, and transparency. To users, it would seem like
the Star Trek Hole deck except that it would use atoms instead oI holographic illusions. It is
an indication oI the degree to which our science and technology have permeated society that
a non-member could so accurately describe and visualize the way in which "Utility Fog"
operates.

Nanotechnology is based on the concept oI tiny, selI-replicating robots. The Utility Fog is a
very simple extension oI the idea: Suppose, instead oI building the object you want atom by
atom, the tiny robots linked their arms together to Iorm a solid mass in the shape oI the object
Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

KMCT College oI Engineering 2 Dept oI InIormation Technology

you wanted. Then, when you got tired oI that simple table, the robots could simply shiIt
around a little and you'd have an elegant table instead.
The colour and reIlectivity oI an object are results oI its properties as an antenna in the
micron wavelength region. Each robot could have an "antenna arm" that it could manipulate
to vary those properties, and thus the surIace oI a Utility Fog object could look just about
however you wanted it to. A "thin Iilm" oI robots could act as a video screen, varying their
optical properties in real time.
Rather than paint the walls, coat them with Utility Fog and they can be a diIIerent colour
every day, or act as a Iloor-to-ceiling TV. Indeed, make the entire wall oI the Fog and can
change the Iloor plan oI your house to suit the occasion. Make the Iloor oI it and never gets
dirty, looks like hardwood but Ieels like Ioam rubber, and extrudes Iurniture in any Iorm
desire. Indeed, whole domestic environment can be constructed Irom Utility Fog; it can Iorm
any object want (except Iood) and whenever don`t want an object any more, the robots that
Iormed it spread out and Iorm part oI the Iloor again.
But better than that, the interior oI the car is Iilled with robots as well as its shell. It will need
to wear holographic "eye phones" to see, but the Fog will hold them up in Iront oI eyes and
they'll Ieel and look as iI they weren't there. Although heavier than air, the Fog is
programmed to simulate its physical properties, so you can't Ieel it: when you move your
arm, it Ilows out oI the way, except when there's a crash. Then it Iorms an instant Iorm-Iitting
"seatbelt" protecting every inch oI your body.
You can take a 100-mphimpact without messing your hair. But you'll never have a 100-mph
impact, or any other kind. Remember that each oI these robots contains a Iair-sized computer.
They already have to be able to talk to each other and coordinate actions in a quite
sophisticated way (even the original Nano-assemblers have to, build any macroscopic
object).You can simply cover the road with a thick layer oI robots. Then your car "calls
ahead" and makes a reservation Ior every position in time and space it will occupy during the
trip.






Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

KMCT College oI Engineering 3 Dept oI InIormation Technology


2. BEHIND THE SCENE


2.1 THE STUFF THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF:

In the late twenty-Iirst century, the 'real world will take on many oI the characteristics oI
the virtual world through the means oI Nanotechnology 'swarms.Consider, Ior example,
Rutgers University computer scientist J. Storrs Hall`s concept oI 'Utility Fog. Hall`s
conception starts with a little robot called a Fog let, which consists oI a human-cell-sized
device with twelve arms pointing in all directions. At the end oI the arms are grippers so that
the Foglets can grasp one another to Iorm larger structures. These Nano bots are intelligent
and can merge their computational capacities with each other to create a distributed
intelligence. A space Iilled with Fog lets is called Utility Fog and has some interesting
properties.
First oI all, the Utility Fog goes to a lot oI trouble to simulate it`s not being there. Hall
describes a detailed scenario that lets a real human walkthrough rooms Iilled with trillions oI
Fog lets and not notice a thing. When desired (and it`s not entirely clear who is doing the
desiring), the Fog lets can quickly simulate any environment by creating all sorts oI
structures. As Hall puts it, 'Fog city can look like a park, or a Iorest, or ancient Rome one
day and Emerald City the next.
The Fog lets can create arbitrary wave Ironts oI light and sound in any direction to create any
imaginary visual and auditory environment. They can exert any pattern oI pressure to create
any tactile environment. In this way, Utility Fog has all the Ilexibility oI a virtual
environment, except it exists in the real physical world. The distributed intelligence oI the
Utility Fog can simulate the minds oI scanned (Hall calls them 'uploaded) people who are
recreated in the Utility Fog 'Fog people.In Hall`s scenario, 'a biological human can walk
through Fog wails, and a Fog (uploaded) human can walk through dumb-matter walls.
OIcourse Fog people can walk through Fog walls, too.
The physical technology oI Utility Fog is actually rather conservative. The Foglets are much
bigger machines than most Nanotechnology conceptions. The soItware is more challenging,
but ultimately Ieasible. Hall needs a bit oI work on his marketing angle: Utility Fog is a rather
Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

KMCT College oI Engineering 4 Dept oI InIormation Technology

dull name Ior such versatile stuII. There are a variety oI proposals Ior Nanotechnology
swarms, in which the real environment is constructed Irom interacting multitudes oI Nano
machines. In all oI the swarm conceptions, physical reality becomes a lot like virtual reality.
You can be sleeping in your bed one moment, and have the room transIorm into your kitchen
as you awake. Actually, change that to a dining room as there`s no need Ior a kitchen. Related
Nanotechnology will instantly create whatever meal desire. When you Iinish eating, the room
can transIorm into a study, or a game room, or a swimming pool, or a redwood Iorest, or the
Taj Mahal.

Figure 2.1 The expansion of a fog let

2.2 MODES OF OPERATION:

The Nano-constructs operate in two modes - "native", and "Iog". In "native" mode, individual
Ioglet move into diIIerent positions and perIorm certain mechanical operations depending on
what object it is Iorming. For example, iI it Iorms part oI a table, then it would be motionless
and locked. II the object was a Ian, then most oI the structure would remain locked, and only
the Iog lets between the two parts would need to move. With a suit made oI Fog, you might
wrestle alligators, cheating a little by having the suit ampliIy your movements as it protects
you Irom the alligator's teeth.
In "Iog" mode, the Ioglets do not move, but act more like pixels on a television screen - they
"pixel ate". The Iog lets vary other properties according to which part oI the object they are
representing, generally transmitting inIormation and sound. A Fog-Iilled room would contain
90 air, and surround its occupant with a display screen with 100 micron resolution.
Meanwhile, each litre oI Iog lets behind the display would contain about a billion times the
Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

KMCT College oI Engineering 5 Dept oI InIormation Technology

processing power oI a286 PC, making possible some pretty impressive virtual reality
simulations.
The Utility Fog which is simulating air needs to be impalpable. One would like to be able to
walk through a Fog-Iilled room without the Ieeling oI having been cast into a block oI solid
Lucite. It is also desire-able to be able to breathe while using the Fog in this way! To this end,
the robots representing empty space constantly run a Iluid-Ilow simulation oI what the air
would be doing iI the robots weren`t there. Then each robot does what the air it displaces
would do in its absence.
The Foglets only occupy about 10 oI the actual volume oI the air (they need lots oI "elbow
room" to move around easily). There`s plenty oI air leIt to breathe. As Iar as physically
breathing it, we set up a pressure-sensitive boundary which translates air motions on one side
to Fog motions on the other. It might even be possible to have the Fog continue the air
simulation all the way into the lungs. Objects on the screen can appear and disappear at will;
they are not constrained by the laws oI physics. The whole scene can shiIt instantly Irom one
apparent locale to another. Completely imaginary constructions, not possible to build in
physical reality, could be commonplace. Virtually anything imaginable could be given
tangible reality in a Utility Fog environment.
Why not, instead, build a virtual reality machine that produces a purely sensory version oI the
same apparent world? The Fog acts as a continuous bridge between actual physical reality
and virtual reality. The Fog is universal eIIect or as well as a universal sensor. Any (real)
object in the Fog environment can be manipulated with an extremely wide array oI patterns
oI pressure, Iorce, and supported, measured, analyzed, weighed, cut, reassembled, or reduced
to bacteria-sized pieces and sorted Ior recycling. Utility Fog can act as a transparent interIace
between "cyberspace" and physical reality.


Figure 2.2 Arrangement of Utility Fog
Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

KMCT College oI Engineering 6 Dept oI InIormation Technology


. HOW TO BUILD A FOG

.1 DESIGN ISSUES

The only major breakthrough necessary to enable us to build the Fog world is
Nanotechnology itselI. Assemblers, the sine qua non oI Nanotechnology, will require two
major Ieats oI molecular engineering: building molecular-sized, individually controllable,
physical actuators, arms, motors, gears, sprockets, pulleys, and the like; and then building
molecular sized computers to control them.
Fog lets need not be controllable to the same precision as true assemblers: They do not need
to control chemical reactions at the atomic level. In Iact, the only constraint on sizes is the
ability to Iorm a smooth enough surIace to Iool human senses. The lower limit, based on
designs Irom Nano systems, is about a 1 or 2 micron body and 5 to 10 micron arms. The
upper limit Ior completely undetectable granularity is probably about 50 to 100microns, the
range oI diameter oI human hair. II "super high Iidelity" isn't critical, 1 mm Fog lets would
likely be able to do all the physical tasks oI interest. The user, embedded in the Fog, is not
really looking at it but at a synthetic image, probably generated by a pair oI active
holographic contact" lenses". The original designed the Fog lets to be very small, so that they
were less than the wavelength oI light, in hopes that Fog could be transparent. AIter running
the idea past several people, including Drexler, they managed to convince that even Fog lets
oI subliminal size, even though quite invisible individually, would cause enough scattering
that a cloud oI them would look like, surprise, a cloud.
For applications not involving the embedding oI humans, "Fog lets" could be oI any size
consonant with the objects they had to manipulate. Imagine building a skyscraper behaving a
solid mass oI robots each a Ioot or so in size, Iorm an active scaIIold in which beams and
blocks and plates were moved around, hand over hand. Such "Fog lets" could be built today;
but they would be way too expensive Ior this kind oI application. Fog needs the selI-
reproducing productivity oI Nanotechnology to be economical. AIter all, Iilling an average
house with even coarse 1 mm Fog lets requires over a trillion oI them, and Ior the hi-Ii Fog
lets it's a quadrillion (1015) oI them. For you to be able to aIIord them they'd better cost less
than $0.00000000001apiece. (II you were very rich, you might be able to aIIord
$0.000000001 Fog lets.)
Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

KMCT College oI Engineering 7 Dept oI InIormation Technology

What Fog lets don't need is to be individually selI-reproducing. Fog lets, small though they
may be on the macroscopic scale, are just a completely diIIerent kind oI machine than selI-
reproducing assemblers. Assembler will be most eIIicient when they work in vat oI special
precursor chemicals. This will also constitute a built-in saIety Iactor against runaway
replication: aIter all, you don't worry about baking yeast taking over the whole world when
you make homemade bread; when it runs out oI dough, it stops. Fog lets operate out in the
real world, with motion tolerances bigger than the assembler's entire working envelope.
We'd expect Fog lets to be built like virtually any other end product oI a Nano-based
technology. There will in all likelihood not only be specialized Fog-making machines. The
more specialized a production process is, the more eIIicient. The general-purpose assembler
is a necessary bootstrap, but as Nanotechnology matures it will engender longer and more
complicated selI-reIerential loops. The typical specialized Nano-Iactory will be a breadbox to
reIrigerator-sized object, with literally trillions oI parallel assembly lines converging in a
tree-like structure to produce ever-larger subcomponents oI the end product. For something
as small as a Fog lets the Iactory could be quite a bit smaller, oI course.

.2 UTILITY FOG: THE COMPONENTS PROPOSED

The components which are required to make utility Iog are oI a much concern Ior its
development.



Figure 3.1 Fog let having 12 arms
Most currently proposed Nano technological designs are based on carbon. Carbon is a
marvellous atom Ior structural purposes, Iorming a crystal (diamond) which is very stiII and
strong. However, a Fog built oI diamond would have a problem which Nano mechanical
designs oI a more conventional Iorm do not pose: the Fog has so much surIace area exposed
Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

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to the air that iI it were largely diamond, especially on the surIace, it would amount to a
"Iuel-air explosive".
ThereIore the Fog let is designed so that its structural elements, Iorming the major component
oI its mass, are made oI aluminium oxide, a reIractory compound using common elements.
The structural elements Iorm an exoskeleton, which besides being a good mechanical design
allows us to have an evacuated interior in which more sensitive Nano mechanical
components can operate. OI course, any macroscopic ignition source would vaporize the
entire Fog let; but as long as more energy is used vaporizing the exoskeleton than is gained
burning the carbon-based components inside, the reaction cannot spread.
Each Fog let has twelve arms, arranged as the Iaces oI a dodecahedron. The arms telescope
rather than having joints. The arms swivel on a universal joint at the base, and the gripper at
the end cart rotate about the arm`s axis. Each arm thus has Iour degrees oI Ireedom, plus
opening and closing the gripper. The only load-carrying motor on each axis is the
extension/retraction motor. The swivel and rotate axes are weakly driven, able to position the
arm in Iree air hut not drive any kind oI load; however, there are load-holding brakes on these
axes.
The gripper is a hexagonal structure with three Iingers, mounted on alternating Iaces oI the
hexagon. Two Fog lets "grasp hands" in an interleaved six-Iinger grip. Since the Iingers are
designed to match the end oI the other arm, this provides a relatively rigid connection; Iorces
are only transmitted axially through the grip.
When at rest, the Fog lets Iorm a regular lattice structure. II the bodies oI the Fog lets are
thought oI as atoms, it is a "Iace-centred cubic" crystal Iormation, where each atom touches
12 other atoms. Consider the arms oI the Fog lets as the girders oI the truss work oI a bridge:
they Iorm the conIiguration known as the "octet truss" invented by Buckminster Fuller in
1956. The spaces bounded by the arms Iorm alternate tetrahedrons and octahedrons, both oI
which are rigid shapes.

The Fog may he thought oI as consisting oI layers oI Fog lets. Tire layers, and the shear
planes they deIine, lie at 4 major angles (corresponding to tire Iaces oI the tetrahedrons and
octahedrons) and 3 minor ones (corresponding to tire Iace-centred cube Iaces). In each oI the
4 major orientations, each Fog let uses six arms to hold its neighbours in the layer; layers are
Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

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thus a 2-dimensionally rigid Iabric oI equilateral triangles. In Iace-centred mode, the layers
work out to the square grids, and are thins not rigid, a slight disadvantage. Most Fog motion
is organized inlayers; layers slide by passing each other down hand-over-hand in bucket
brigade Iashion. At any instant, roughly halI the arms will lie lurked between layers when
they are in motion.
The Fog moves an object by setting up a seed-shaped zone around it. The Fog lets in the zone
move with the object, Iorming a Iairing which makes the motions around it smoother. II the
object is moving Iast, the Fog around its path will compress to let it go by. The air does not
have time to move in the Fog matrix and so the motion is Iairly eIIicient. For slower motions,
eIIiciency is not so important, but iI we wish to prevent slow-moving high-pressure areas
Irom interIering with other airIlow operations, we can enclose the object`s zone in a selI-
contained convection cell which moves Fog lets Irom in Iront to behind it.
Each moving layer oI robots is similarly passing the next layer along, so each layer adds
another increment oI the velocity diIIerence oI adjacent layers. Motors Ior arm extension can
run at a gigahertz, and be geared down by a Iactor oI 100 to the main screw in the arm. This
will have a pitch oI about a micron, giving a linear extension/retraction rate oI about 10
meters per second. We can estimate the inter-layer shear rate at this velocity; the Ioglets are
essentially pulling themselves along. Thus Ior a 100-micron interlayer distance Fog can
sustain a 100meter-per-second shear per millimetre oI thickness.
The atomically-precise crystals oI the Foglets` structural members will have a tensile strength
oI at least 100,000 psi (i.e. high Ior steel but low Ior the materials, including some Iairly
reIractory ceramics, used in modern "high-tech" composites). At arm`s length oI 100
microns, the Fog will occupy 10 oI the volume oI the air but has structural eIIiciency oI
only about 1 in any given direction.
Thus Utility Fog as a bulk material will have a density (speciIic gravity) oI 0.2; Ior
comparison, balsa wood is about 0.15 and cork is about 0.25.Fog will have a tensile strength
oI only 1000 psi; this is about the same as low-density polyethylene (solid, not Ioam). The
material properties arising Irom the lattice structure are more or less isotropic; the one
exception is that when Fog is Ilowing, tensile strength perpendicular to the shear plane is cut
roughly in halI.
Without altering the lattice connectivity, Fog can contract by up to about 40 in any linear
dimension, reducing its overall volume (and increasing its density) by a Iactor oI Iive. (This
is oI course done by retracting all arms but not letting go.) In this state the Iog has the density
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oI water. An even denser state can be attained by Iorming two interpenetrating lattices and
retracting; at this point its density and strength would both be similar to ivory or Corian
structural plastic, at speciIic gravity oI 2 and about 6000 psi. Such high density Fog would
have time useIul property oI being waterprooI (which ordinary Fog is not), but it cannot Ilow
and takes much longer to change conIiguration. Selective application oI this technique allows
Fog to simulate shapes and Ilow Iields to a precision considerably greater than 100 microns.
An appropriate mass oI Utility Fog can be programmed to simulate most oI the physical
properties oI any macroscopic object (including air and water),to roughly the same precision
those properties are measured by human senses. The major exceptions are taste, smell, and
transparency. The latter can be overcome with holographic 'eye phones" iI a person is to be
completely embedded in Fog.

.2.1 A Fog let

A Iog let is the basic component oI the Utility Iog as several numbers oI them Iorms a Iog.
Connecting Structure oI a Fog lets depicted by Iigure 3.1 one can see the dodecahedral
structure oI the utility Iog. The arms oI the Iog lets are having grippers which are used Ior
interconnection between two Iog lets. The connection socket here is used Ior tight
combination oI two arms oI diIIerent Iog lets.

.2.2 The Grip

Grip is the most important part oI the Iog let as the whole arrangement depends upon the
interconnection oI the grips. The Grip consists oI basic Iour divisions. The Iirst one is coupler
which is used Ior the communication and power controlling purpose. It can be considered as
the head oI this division. Then we have Optical Waveguide Ior communication Irom the user
so that it could get the commands Ior its perIormance. The power and electrical transmission
lines are used Ior the power supply in this Iog let and Iinally have couplers which are used Ior
locking oI the two Ioglets together.




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. FOGLETS IN DETAIL:

Fog lets run on electricity, but they store hydrogen as an energy buIIer. Pick hydrogen in part
because it`s almost certain to be a Iuel oI choice in the Nanotech world, and thus we can be
sure that the process oI converting hydrogen and oxygen to water and energy, as well as the
process oI converting energy and water to hydrogen and oxygen, will be well understood.
That means we`ll be able to do them eIIiciently, which is oI prime importance.
Suppose that the Fog is Ilowing, layers sliding against each other, and some Iorce is being
transmitted through the Ilow. This would happen any time the Fog moved some non-Fog
object, Ior example. Just as human muscles oppose each other when holding something
tightly, opposing Iorces along diIIerent Foglet arms act to hold the Fog`s shape and supply
the required motion. When two layers oI Fog move past each other, the arms between may
need to move as many as 100 thousand times per second. Now iI each oI those motions was
dissipative, and the Iogs were under Iull load, it would need to consume 700 kilowatts per
cubic centimetre. This is roughly the power dissipation in a 0.45 calibre cartridge in the
millisecond aIter the trigger is pulled; i.e. it just won`t do.
But nowhere near this amount oI energy is being used; the pushing arms are supplying this
much but the arms being pushed are receiving almost the same amount, minus the work being
done on the object being moved. So iI the motors can act as generators when they`re being
pushed, each Fog let`s energy bud get is nearly balanced. Because these are arms instead oI
wheels, the intake and outIlow do not match at any given instant, even though they average
out the same over time (measured in tens oI microseconds). Some buIIering is needed. Hence
the hydrogen is used.
It should hasten to add that almost never would one expect the Fog to move actively at 1000
psi; the pressure in the column oI Fog beneath, say, a "levitated" human body is less than one
thousandth oI that. The 1000 psi capability is to allow the Fog can simulate hard objects,
where Iorces can be concentrated into very small areas. Even so, current exploratory
engineering designs Ior electric motors have power conversion densities up to a billion watts
per cubic centimetre, and dissipative ineIIiciencies in the 10 parts per million range. This
means that iI time Empire State Building was being Iloated around on a column oI Fog, time
Fog would dissipate less than a watt per cubic centimetre.
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Moving Fog will dissipate energy by air turbulence and viscous drag. In the large, air will be
entrained in the layers oI moving Fog and Iorced into laminar Ilow. Energy consumed in this
regime may be properly thought oI as necessary Ior the desired motion no matter how it was
done. As Ior the waving oI the arms between layers, the Reynolds number decreases linearly
with the size oI the arm. Since the absolute velocity oI the arms is low, i.e. 1 m/s, the
Reynolds number should be well below the "lower critical" value, and the arms should be
operating in a perIectly viscous regime with no turbulence. The remaining eIIect, viscous
drag (on the waving arms) comes to a Iew watts per square meter oI shear plane per layer.
There will certainly be some waste heat generated by Fog at work that will need to be
dissipated. This and other applications Ior heat pumps, such as heating or cooling people (no
need to heat the whole house, especially since some people preIer diIIerent temperatures),
can be done simply by running a Ilow oI Fog through a pipe-like volume which changes in
area, compressing and expanding tire entrained air at the appropriate places.

..1 Foglet - Internal Schematic

The Foglets arrange themselves in three layers where they slide over one another to Iorm a
new structure is as shown in Fig. 3.3.2, has three layers oI Ioglets. II the programming says,
maintain a constant total among the extension oI all arms, but otherwise do whatever the
Iorces would indicate; and when a particular arm gets to the end oI its envelope, let go, and
look Ior another arm coming into reach to grab; have liquid. II you allow the sum oI the arm
extensions to vary with the sum oI the Iorce son the arms, you have something that
approximates a gas within a certain pressure range. Note that because the Ioglets can use their
own power to move or resist moving, the apparent density and viscosity oI the Iluid can
anything Irom dense toner vacuum.





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4. COMMUNICATIONS AND CONTROL

In the macroscopic world, microcomputer-based controllers (e.g. the widely used Intel 8051
series microcontrollers) typically run on a clock speed oI about 10MHz. They emit control
signals, at most, on the order oI 10 kHz (usually less), and control motions in robots that are
at most 10 Hz, i.e. a complete motion taking one tenth oI a second. This million-clocks-per-
action is not strictly necessary, oI course; but it gives us some concept oI the action rate we
might expect Ior a given computer clock rate in a digitally controlled Nano robot.
Drexler`s careIully detailed analysis shows that it is possible to build mechanical Nano
computers with gigahertz clock rates. Thus we can immediately expect to build a Nano
controller which can direct a 10 kilohertz robot. However, we can do better.
Since tire early microcontrollers were developed, computer architecture has advanced. The
8051`s do 1 instruction per 6, 12, or 18 clock cycles; modern RISC architectures execute 1
instruction per cycle. So Iar, nobody has bothered to build a RISC microcontroller, since they
already have more computing power than they need. Furthermore, RISC designs are eIIicient
in hardware as well as time; one early RISC was implemented on a 10,000-gate gate array.
This design could be translated into rod logic in less than one tenth oI one percent oI a
cubic micron.
Each Foglet is going to have 12 arms with three axis control each. In current technology it
isn`t uncommon to have a processor per axis, we could Iit 36processors into the Foglet but it
isn`t necessary. The tradeoIIs in macroscopic robotics today are such that processors are
cheap; in the Foglet timings are diIIerent. The control oI the arms is actually much simpler
than control oI a macroscopic robot. They can be managed by much simpler controllers that
take commands hike" Move to point X at speed y." Using a RISC design allows a single
processor to control a 100 kHz arm; using auxiliary controllers will let it do all 12 easily.
But there is still a problem: Each computer, even with the power-reducing reversible logic
designs, is going to dissipate a Iew Nano watts. At a trillion Ioglets per cubic meter, this is a
Iew kilowatts per cubic meter. Cooling Ior such dissipation must needs he sonic-where
between substantial and heroic. As long as the computers can go into a standby mode when
the Fog is standing still, however, this is quite workable. Concentrations oI heavy work,
mechanical or computing, would still require cooling circulation to sumac degree, but, as we
have seen, the Fog is perIectly capable oI doing that.
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What about all the other computing overhead Ior the Fog? Besides the individual control oI
its robotic selI, each Foglet will have to run a portion oI time overall distributed control and
communications algorithms. We can do another clock-speed to capability analogy Irom
current computers regarding communications. Megahertz-speed computers Iind themselves
well employed managing a handIul oI megabit data lines, Again we are Iorced to abandon the
engineering tradeoIIs oI the macroscopic world: routing oI a message through any given node
need theoretically consume only a handIul oI thermodynamically irreversible bit operations;
typical communications controllers take millions. Special-purpose message routers designed
with these Iacts in mind must be a part oI the Foglet.
II the Fog were conIigured as a store-and-Iorward network, packets with an average length oI
100 bytes and a 1000-instruction overhead, inIormation would move through the Fog at 50
meters/second, i.e. 110 mph. It represents a highly ineIIicient use oI computation even with
special-purpose hardware. It will be necessary to design a more eIIicient communication
protocol. Setting up "virtual circuits" in the Fog amid using optical repeaters (or simply
mechanically switching the optical waveguides) should help considerably.

















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5. SYNERGISTIC COMBINATION WITH
OTHERTECHNOLOGIES

The counterintuitive ineIIiciency in communications is an example, possibly the most
extreme one, oI a case where macroscopic mechanisms outperIorm the Fog at some speciIic
task. This will be even truer when we consider Nano-engineered macroscopic mechanisms.
We could imagine a robot, human-sized, that was Iormed oI a collection oI Nano-engineered
parts held together by a mass oI Utility Fog. The parts might include "bones", perhaps
diamond-Iibre composites, having great structural strength; motors, power sources, and so
Iorth. The parts would Iorm a sort oI erector set that the surrounding Fog would assemble to
perIorm the task at hand. The Fog could do directly all subtasks not requiring the excessive
strength, power, and so Iorth that the special-purpose parts would supply.

The Fog house, or city, would resemble the Fog robot in that regard. The rooI oI a house
might well be specially engineered Ior qualities oI waterprooIness, solar energy collection,
and resistance to general abuse, Iar exceeding that which ordinary general purpose Fog would
leave. (On the other hand, the Fog could, iI desired, have excellent insulating properties.) OI
course the rooI need not be one piece-it might be inch-square tiles held in place by the
supporting Fog, and thus be quite amenable to rearrangement at the owner's whim,
incremental repair and replacement, and all the other advantages we expect Irom a Fog house.
Another major component that would be special-purpose would be power and
communications. Working on more-eIIicient protocols such as suggested above, the Fog
would Iorm an acceptable communications link Irom a person to some terminal in the same
building; but it would be extremely ineIIicient Ior long-haul, high bandwidth connections
such as that needed Ior telecommunication.
Power is also almost certainly the domain oI special-purpose Nano-engineered mechanisms.
Power transmission in the Fog is likely to be limited, although Ior diIIerent reasons Irom data
transmission. Nanotechnology will give us an amazing array oI power generation and
distribution possibilities, and the Fog can use most oI them. The critical heterogeneous
component oI Fog is the Fog-producing machine. Foglets are not selI-reproducing; there is no
need Ior them to be, and it would complicate their design enormously to give them Iine atom-
manipulating capability.
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6. PROPERTIES AND USES

As well as Iorming an extension oI the senses and muscles oI individual people, the Fog can
act as a generalized inIrastructure Ior society at large. Fog City need have no permanent
buildings oI concrete, no roads oI asphalt, no cars, trucks, or busses. It can look like a park, or
a Iorest, or iI the population is suIIiciently whimsical, ancient Rome one day and Emerald
City the next.
It will be more eIIicient to build dedicated machines Ior long distance energy and inIormation
propagation, and physical transport. For local use, and interIace to the worldwide networks,
the Fog is ideal Ior all oI these Iunctions. It can act as shelter, clothing, telephone, computer,
and automobile. It will be almost any common household object, appearing Irom nowhere
when needed (and disappearing aIterwards). It gains certain eIIiciency Irom this extreme oI
polymorphism; consider the number oI hardcopy photographs necessary to store all the
images one sees on a television or computer screen. With Utility Fog we can have one
"display" and keep all our physical possessions on disk.
Another item oI inIrastructure that will become increasingly important in the Iuture is
inIormation processing. Nanotechnology will allow us to build some really monster
computers. Although each Foglet will possess a comparatively small processorwhich is to
say the power oI a current-day supercomputerthere are about 16 million Foglets to a cubic
inch. When those Foglets are not doing anything else, i.e. when they are simulating the
interior oI a solid object or air that nothing is passing through at the moment, they can be
used as a computing resource (with the caveats below).










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7. LIMITATIONS OF UTILITY FOG CAPABILITY

When discussing something as Iar outside oI` everyday experience as the Utility Fog, it is a
good idea to delineate both sides oI the boundary. The Fog is capable oI so many literally
amazing things; we will point out a Iew oI the things it isn`t capable oI: Anything requiring
hard metal (cold steel).For example, Fog couldn`t simulate a drill bit cutting through
hardwood. It would be able to cut the hole, but the process would be better described as
intelligent sandpaper.

Anything requiring both high strength and low volume. A parachute could not be made oI
Fog (unless, oI course, all the air was Iilled with Fog, in which case one could simply Ily).

Anything requiring high heat. A Fog Iire blazing merrily away on Fog logs in a Iireplace
would Ieel warm on the skin a Iew Ieet away; it would Ieel the same to a hand inserted into
the "Ilame".

Anything requiring molecular manipulation or chemical transIormation. Foglets are simply
on the wrong scale to play with atoms. In particular, they cannot reproduce themselves.

Fog can simulate air to the touch hut not to the eyes. The best indications are that it would
look like heavy Iog. Thus the Fog would need to support a pair oI holographic goggles in
Iront oI the eyes oI an embedded user. Such goggles are clearly within the capabilities oI the
same level oI Nanotechnology as is needed Ior the Fog.

7.1 OTHER DESIRABLE LIMITATIONS
In 1611, William Shakespeare wrote his Iinal play, "The Tempest." 445 years later, an
obscure science Iiction writer named W. J. Stuart updated the Tempest`s plot into a story
called "Forbidden Planet," and created a modern myth.
Forbidden Planet, more precisely the movie version, has become the classic cautionary tale
Ior arty scenario in which people become too powerIul and control their environment too
easily. In the story, the Krell are an ancient, wise, and highly advanced civilization. They
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KMCT College oI Engineering 18 Dept oI InIormation Technology

perIect an enormous and powerIul machine, capable oI projecting objects and Iorces
anywhere in any Iorm, upon the mental commands oI any Krell. The machine works "not
wisely but too well," maniIesting all the deeply buried subconscious desires oI the Krell to
destroy each other.
Utility Fog will provide humans with powers that. Approximate those oI the Iictional Krell
machine. Luckily, we have centuries oI literary tradition to guide us around the pitIalls oI
hubris made reality. We must study this tradition, or we may be doomed to repeat it a truth
that is by no means limited to the Utility Fog, or indeed to Nanotechnology in general.
The Iirst thing we can do is to require Iully conscious, unequivocal commands Ior the Fog to
take any action. Beyond that, we can try to suggest some oI the protocols that may be useIul
in managing the Fog in a situation where humans are interacting in close physical proximity.
Even iI we have solved the problem oI translating one`s individual wishes, however
expressed, into the quadrillions oI sets oI instructions to individual Foglets to accomplish
what one desired, the problem oI who gets to control which Foglets is probably a much more
contentious one.
We can physicalize the psychological concept oI "personal space". The Foglets within some
distance oI each person would be under that person`s exclusive control; personal spaces could
not merge except by mutual consent. This single protocol could prevent most crimes oI
violence in our hypothetical Fog City.
A corollary point is that physically perpetrated theIt would be impossible in a Fog world. It
would still be possible by inIormational means, i.e. Iraud, hacking, etc.; but the Fog could be
programmed to put ownership on the level oI a physical law. Not that it really makes any
sense to think oI stealing a Iog-mode object, anyway. Ownership and control oI the Fog need
not be any more complex than the bundles oI rights currently associated with everything Irom
land to corporate stock.
Indeed, much oI the programming oI the Fog will need to have the character oI physical laws.
In order Ior the enormous potential complexity to be comprehensible and thus usable to
human beings, it needs to be organized by simple but powerIul principles, which must be
consonant with the huge amount oI hard-wired inIormation processing our sensory systems
per Iorm. For example, it would be easy to move Iurniture (or buildings) by manipulating an
appropriately sized scale model, and easy to observe the eIIects by watching the model.
However, the Fog could just as easily have Ilooded the room with 100 kHz sound and
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KMCT College oI Engineering 19 Dept oI InIormation Technology

Irequency-scaled the echoes down into the human auditory range. A bat would have no
trouble with this kind oI "scale model", but to humans it`s just noise.
It will be necessary, in general, to arrange the overall control oI the Fog to be extremely
distributed, as local as possible, robust in the presence oI Iailure. When we realize that a
single cubic inch oI Fog represents a computer network oI 16 million processors, the concept
oI hierarchical control with human oversight can be seen to be hopelessly inadequate.
Algorithmic distributed control algorithms oIIer one possible solution.
























Nano Fog Seminar Report 2011

KMCT College oI Engineering 20 Dept oI InIormation Technology


8. ADVANTAGES OF A UTILITY FOGENVIRONMENT

Another major advantage Ior space-Iilling Fog is saIety. In a car (or its Nanotech descendant)
Fog Iorms a dynamic Iorm-Iitting cushion that protects better than any seatbelt oI nylon
Iibres. An appropriately built house Iilled with Fog could even protect its inhabitants Irom
the (physical) eIIects oI a nuclear weapon within 95 or so oI its lethal blast area.
There are many more mundane ways the Fog can protect its occupants, not the least being
physically to remove bacteria, mites, pollen, and so Iorth, Irom the air. A Fog-Iilled home
would no longer be the place that most accidents happen. First, by perIorming most
household tasks using Fog as an instrumentality, the cuts and Ialls that accompany the use oI
knives, power tools, ladders, and so Iorth, can be eliminated.
Secondly, the other major class oI household accidents, young children who injure
themselves out oI ignorance, can be avoided by a number oI means. A child who climbed
over a stair rail would Iloat harmlessly to the Iloor. A child could not pull a book case over on
itselI, Ialling over would not be among the bookcase`s repertoire. Power tools, kitchen
implements, and cleaning chemicals would not normally exist; they or their analogues would
be called into existence when needed and vanish instead oI having to be cleaned and put
away.
Outside the home, the possibilities are, iI anything, greater. One can easily imagine
"industrial Fog" which Iorms a Iactory. It would consist oI larger robots. Unlike domestic
Fog, which would have the density and strength oI balsawood, industrial Fog could have bulk
properties resembling hardwood or aluminium. A Nanotechnology- age Iactory would
probably consist oI a mass oI Fog with special-purpose reactors embedded in it, where high-
energy chemical transIormations could take place. All the physical manipulation, transport,
assembly, and so Iorth would be done by the Fog.







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9. APPLICATIONS

9.1 SPACE EXPLORATION

The major systems oI spaceships will need to he made with special- purpose Nano
technological mechanisms, and indeed with such mechanisms pushed much closer to their
true capacities than anything we have talked about heretoIore. In the spaceship`s cabin,
however, will be art acceleration couch. When not accelerating, which is most oI the time;
we`d preIer something useIul, like empty space, there. The Utility Fog makes a better
acceleration couch, anyway.
Fill the cabin with Utility Fog and never worry about Iloating out oI reach oI a handhold.
Instruments, consoles, and cabinets Ior equipment and supplies are not needed. Non-
simulable items can be embedded in the Iog in what are apparently bulkheads. The Fog can
add great structural strength to the ship itselI; the rest oI the structure needs not much more
than a balloon. The same is true Ior spacesuits.
Fog inside the suit manages the air pressure and makes motion easy; Fog outside gives
extremely Iine manipulating ability Ior various tasks. OI course, like the ship, the suit
contains many special purpose non-Fog mechanisms. Surround the space station with Fog. It
needs radiation shielding anyway (iI the occupants are long-term); use big industrial Foglets
with lots oI redundancy in the mechanism; even so they may get re cycled Iairly oIten. All the
stock problems Irom SF movies go away: humans never need go outside merely to Iix
something; when EVA is desired Ior transIer or recreation, outside Fog provides complete
saIety and motion control. It also makes a good tugboat Ior docking spaceships.
Homesteaders on the Moon could bring along a batch oI heavy duty Fog as well as the
special-purpose Nanotech power generation and waste recycling equipment. There will be a
million and one things, oI the ordinary yet arduous physical task kind, that must be done to
set up and maintain a selI-suIIicient household.




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10. CONCLUSION

Utility Iog is a term suggested by Dr. John Storrs Hall to describe Nano technological
Collection oI tiny robots together perIorming a certain Iunction. Hall thought oI it as Nano
technological replacement Ior car seatbelts and many other useIul types oI equipment. The
robots would be microscopic, with extending arms reaching in several diIIerent directions,
and could perIorm lattice reconIiguration. Grabbers at the ends oI the arms would allow the
robots (or Ioglets) to mechanically link to one another and share both InIormation and
energy, enabling them to act as a continuous substance with mechanical and optical
properties that could be varied over a wide range. Each Ioglet would have substantial
computing power, and would be able to communicate with its neighbours.
While the Ioglets would be micro-scale, construction oI the Ioglets would require Iull
molecular technology. Each robot would be in the shape oI a dodecahedron with 12 arms
extending outwards. Each arm would have Iour degrees oI Ireedom. When linked together the
Ioglets would Iorm an Octet truss. The Ioglets` bodies would be made oI Aluminium oxide
rather than combustible diamond to avoid creating Iuel air explosives.
This Technology is going to have a very sound eIIect on Iuture and the researches are going
on this technology to make it more compatible and sophisticated. So in the Iuture OI about
twenty years Irom now it is expected to be in a very good operating mode with Many oI the
Ilaws being eliminated and we could see the wonders which can be done byte
Nanotechnology.

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