All your unicellular buddies are just going to
love this. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is rallying a trio of student-built nanobot teams to compete at the world's most popular sport, which will be the second time
nanosoccer has accompanied the RoboCup Open. The difference with this year's competition is that the public will be invited to watch. Of course, with a playing field the size of a grain of rice, a microscope will be used to show the crazy antics of the remote-controlled robots as they bat around nanoballs the diameter of a human hair. Sounds harmless, but just you wait: before you know it these little bots will start marrying Spice Girls and faking on-field injuries just like the pros.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Daniel @ May 17th 2008 9:09PM
ha ha faking injuroes that be awesome.
Josh @ May 17th 2008 9:43PM
Manchester Nano-bot GO!
duffman @ May 17th 2008 9:48PM
I wonder if the fans will throw Molotov cocktails and urine bombs on the micro playing field.
Bachus @ May 17th 2008 9:50PM
someone needs to storm the field. all of it. at once. with a fingertip.
karts41 @ May 18th 2008 4:50AM
Just bring in some crazy raspberry ants and watch them battle it out.
Daniel @ May 17th 2008 9:58PM
i wonder if they make a nano streaker?
derX @ May 17th 2008 10:16PM
OMG, I know a really good joke could be spun off of that, my brain just decided to go blank. Dammit. C'mon, someone out there, Daniel gave some pretty damn good fodder.
Anytakers?
David @ May 17th 2008 10:44PM
nano-weiner?
Dillon @ May 17th 2008 10:17PM
All I see is a really tiny meat cleaver....
Aguiluz @ May 17th 2008 10:20PM
I wonder if they can be integrated to a game console.
Yay for uber-realistic AI!
webon @ May 17th 2008 11:40PM
Everything is cool and dandy until the nanobots become self aware and "invade" us all, and start "playing" real soccer by take over our bodies.
not funny at all
Bob @ May 17th 2008 11:41PM
I was not aware we could build robots that small. Think of the possibilities in the field of medicine.
Philipee @ May 18th 2008 1:25AM
"We" can't bob, other people can. You can't however because you're an idiot.
ThreeDee912 @ May 17th 2008 11:47PM
Goooooooaaaal!!!
Xepol @ May 17th 2008 11:50PM
It is all fun and games until the white blood cells rush the field and run riot...
The Ron @ May 18th 2008 12:57AM
So, what exactly are blood cells doing next to the nano-bot?
Abuzar @ May 18th 2008 2:16AM
To compare size.
BlowURmindBowel @ May 18th 2008 3:21AM
yes but will the coverage be in HD? I want to be able to see the individual beads of sweat on the players...
Lee Cairns @ May 18th 2008 6:17AM
Worlds Smallest strip the willow anyone?
http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/Optics/play/StripTheWillow/
DTemp @ May 18th 2008 9:45AM
If it's the diameter of a human hair, its NOT a nanobot.
Man, these days, everyone is nano-this and nano-that, but a human hair isn't even close to the nano scale... the *thinnest* hair is around 10 micrometers, and most is 5-15 times thicker.
Tonbo @ May 18th 2008 1:09PM
"Although the bots are a few tens of micrometers to a few hundred micrometers long, they are considered “nanoscale” because their masses range from a few nanograms to a few hundred nanograms. They are manufactured from materials such as aluminum, nickel, gold, silicon and chromium."
Stem $ell @ May 18th 2008 4:15PM
The best nano pros came up through the fempto and pico leagues...
Macha88 @ May 22nd 2008 10:50PM
Setting the foundation for robasketball?
Macha88 @ May 22nd 2008 10:50PM
robasket ball?