Self-Replication and Self-Assembly for Manufacturing

TL;DR

This paper presents a computational simulation demonstrating how nanoscale machines can self-replicate and self-assemble into specified polygonal meshes, advancing the potential for low-cost nanomanufacturing.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation framework for nanoscale machines that self-replicate and self-assemble into user-defined shapes, showcasing programmable nanomanufacturing.

Findings

Various polygonal meshes can be formed by changing machine sequences.

Self-replication occurs through bonding with free machines in the simulation.

Self-assembly into complex shapes is achievable in the virtual environment.

Abstract

It has been argued that a central objective of nanotechnology is to make products inexpensively, and that self-replication is an effective approach to very low-cost manufacturing. The research presented here is intended to be a step towards this vision. We describe a computational simulation of nanoscale machines floating in a virtual liquid. The machines can bond together to form strands (chains) that self-replicate and self-assemble into user-specified meshes. There are four types of machines and the sequence of machine types in a strand determines the shape of the mesh they will build. A strand may be in an unfolded state, in which the bonds are straight, or in a folded state, in which the bond angles depend on the types of machines. By choosing the sequence of machine types in a strand, the user can specify a variety of polygonal shapes. A simulation typically begins with an initial unfolded seed strand in a soup of unbonded machines. The seed strand replicates by bonding with free machines in the soup. The child strands fold into the encoded polygonal shape, and then the polygons drift together and bond to form a mesh. We demonstrate that a variety of polygonal meshes can be manufactured in the simulation, by simply changing the sequence of machine types in the seed.