Posted February 5th 2007 3:27PM

It is often difficult to convey the importance of nanotechnology in the industry of robotics and how these two technologies are intimately connected. Many people are aware of nanotechnolgy and know it is an important industry but because it is difficult to visualize what is happening at the nano-scale it is easy to misunderstand what is happening in nanotechnology and forget that it is fundamentally related to robotics.

Visualizing productive nanosystems and molecular manufacturing is a major challenge in communicating the power of this technology. To help address this problem, Nanorex and the Foresight Institute established a challenge grant to fund the production of a new computer-generated animated short film called "Productive Nanosystems: from Molecules to Superproducts".

charles and ray eames

Posted February 6th 2007 8:31AM

shoutout to charles and ray eames, "The Powers of 10". this movie is a second rate imitator. it is a good way to explain the potential of nanotech to a retard, or tardo.

Glad the video helped you

Posted February 6th 2007 12:10PM

The Powers of Ten is an awesome video that explores the relative size of things from the microscopic to the cosmic. It is available on Google Video and everyone should see it if they have not already. It doesn't really have anything to do with this video unless The Powers of Ten is your only reference to the concept of magnification.

This video is designed to show that nanosystems are microscopic robots and when they work together on tiny assembly lines they can potentially print out most goods found in stores today.

plagiarism.

Posted February 7th 2007 2:12AM

this is video is stylistically derivative of the eames movie. the style of magnification, description and narration are very similar. do you know the guys that made this movie? i bet they acknowledge it. ask them. i've no problem with the nanotech video. it is a good video. i just don't like idea thieves.

I bet

Posted February 7th 2007 11:54PM

I'm fairly certain that the people responsible for this nanotech video are familiar with The Powers of Ten. They work in the industry of nanotechnology, which relies heavily on magnification, and The Powers of Ten is an incredibly popular film pertaining to the industry in which they derive their livelihood. The Powers of Ten even has its own holiday (October 10th).

The Simpson’s did a parody and there's a Morgan Freeman narrated IMAX film called "Cosmic Voyage" that probably deserves the "idea thief" accusation more than this video. If you want to see the ideas within The Powers of Ten manifest in real life there is an awesome planetarium called the Hayden Sphere at the American Museum of Natural History in New York city that does an excellent job of relating the sense of scale.

What this nanotech video actually reminds me of most is this flash animation from HP Labs that zooms in on a microchip to show its extreme complexity.