🚀 go-pugleaf

I did have the interesting thought that animals can be regarded as a
cell's solution to the problem of boldly going where no cell has gone
before; as a way of generating a cell-friendly local environment in
globally hostile environments and as a means of travelling vast
distances.

It strikes me that in many cases nanotechnology might benefit from the
same approach for much the same reasons. For example nanomachines
might build a temporary containment structure to fulfill their
environmental requirements while they did the real job. More relevantly
if you wanted a large group of nanomachines to do some job for you (we
must think of a collective noun for a group of nanomachines) in an
inaccessible place the best approach might be to have them form some
temporary macroscopic mobile structure, probably with linked
nanomachines forming a shell and fuel and raw materials inside. It
might well ressemble an insect; it depends on the kind of mobility
required. It might fly or burrow, crawl or swim. It might have wheels
or legs, fins or jets. It might change shape to cope with different
obstacles.

Malcolm McMahon

[That's essentially what the Utility Fog is... By the way I'll have
 a presentation of the U. Fog at VISION-21 (the NASA thing this March).
 --JoSH]