Nanorobotic Applications in Medicine: Current Proposals and Designs

Advances in technology have increased our ability to manipulate the world around us on an ever-decreasing scale. Nanotechnologies are rapidly emerging within the realm of medicine, and this subfield has been termed nanomedicine. Use of nanoparticle technology has become familiar and increasingly commonplace, especially with pharmaceutical technology. An exciting and promising area of nanotechnological development is the building of nanorobots, which are devices with components manufactured on the nanoscale. This area of study is replete with potential applications, many of which are currently being researched and developed. The goal of this paper is to give an introduction to the emerging field of nanorobotics within medicine, and provide a review of the emerging applications of nanorobotics to fields ranging from neurosurgery to dentistry.