arshad@uk.ac.ed.cs (Arshad Mahmood) (09/18/90)
Hi JoSH (sorry to be familiar, but I didn't know any other name), Perhaps you can bring to the attention of the list an article in Nature (August 12th I think ?) regarding a project which has just been approved by MITI (Japan) to build a small robotic device which will be able to travel within the body. The aims at this stage are somewhat sketchy byt it's not really nanotechnology, rather micro-technology (if that !) but it will put money into the kind of research which this group is about. If you've already posted details about this, then sorry for the inconvenience. A. Mahmood ... [Well, volume is pretty low now, and I hadn't seen that particular reference. The doings of MITI in the field of actual nanotechnology are talked about in the article "The Japanese Lead" in Update 9 (posted here not too long ago, and available for FTP from the archives). --JoSH]
amutz@iago.caltech.edu (Mutz, Andrew H.) (09/20/90)
In article <Sep.17.14.38.13.1990.26173@athos.rutgers.edu>, arshad@uk.ac.ed.cs (Arshad Mahmood) writes... >Perhaps you can bring to the attention of the list an article in Nature >regarding... a small robotic device which will be able to travel >within the body. There was an article in today's Los Angeles Times referring to the Japanese program to build an intravenous robot. The volume of the first version is targetted to be 1 cubic centimeter. The technology referred to is micro- mechanic rather than nano-scale. Andy Mutz || Andrew H. Mutz | 'The eternal graduate student, || || Caltech 138-78 | still wanders through the night. || || Pasadena CA 91125 | Now it's six years later, || || | and he still keeps up the fight.' || || amutz@caltech.juliet.edu | - with apologies to Warren Zevon, || || | and 'The Eternal Thomson Gunner'||
6600sgs@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (steve steinberg) (09/20/90)
Concerning the earlier post about MITI's nanotechnology project, this was
in the LA Times 9/17/90 (from a Reuters story):
"...Japanese scientists say it may be possible to build miniature machines
that could travel inside the body and make surgical repairs.
The Ministry of International trade and Industry, which often backs such
projects, said last month that it would launch a major research drive to
develop basic technologies to make the goal possible."
"...'We will be laying the groundwork for commercialization in the early
21st Century,' said Naomasa Nakajima of Tokyo University who helped plan
the project.
MITI's goals for its 10-year, $171-million effort are more modest -- a
prototype micromachine, one cubic centimeter in volume, that can sense and
respond to its environment. It also foresees a smart catheter that could enter
organs beyond the reach of today's probes."
"...The micromachines theme was selected from dozens of others, in part
because it is compatible with MITI's goal of making an international
contribution by supporting basic research.
But it also won out because early work in the field is promising. Moreover,
Japan's aging population will place new demands on medicine."
"MITI's Kobayashi said ... 'The United States is ahead, but it's only one
step from the starting line. The goal is still way in the distance.'"
--
____________________________________________________________________
steve steinberg
6600sgs@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu
(805) 685-6557