In the near future, small molecular nanobots could be designed as expert systems for general health monitoring. These microscopic devices could be inserted into our bodies, where they would stay forever. Travelling via the blood stream to all parts of body 24/7, they could tirelessly ensure that all is well by assessing for signs of infection. Nanobots could have both basic and advanced functional knowledge and measurement apparatus to monitor the body’s health. For example, they could assess for signs of inflammation, which is a well-known indicator of infection. The devices send the data they collect to an external electronic source, which can make an analysis on your state of health in real time.

Nanotechnology is an emerging field which has the potential to develop microscopic biological devices that can act to solve a variety of medical problems. Medical applications are only one of the many possible uses for these self-sustaining microscopic devices. Since the devices are so compact, they can be inserted into a patients biological system - they are smaller than blood cells. The function of these devices varies but through encoded DNA they have the potential to build with molecules and even change the existing structure of material. Nanobots could also constantly monitor blood glucose levels. They have been developed to deliver drugs to specific types of cells within the body, enabling the destruction of cancer cells.

Advantages:

• it’s continuous – these devices could be self-sustaining, therefore they could work constantly to monitor our health
• it’s multifunctional – these devices can monitor for a variety of indicators and can be administered with vaccination programmes
• it’s tailored – once the nanobot is inside the body, it acts as a personal doctor