Nanomechanical simulation of atomically-precise universal joint

Mark Sims of Nanorex, a Foresight participating member, reports that he has completed the first nanomechanical simulation of the Merkle/Drexler universal joint. He used the nanoENGINEER-1 software on a Dell laptop, taking about 24 hours to complete the simulation of a 3,846-atom structure.

Mark explains: “A universal joint is a joint in a rigid rod that allows the rod to ‘bend’ in any direction. It consists of a pair of ordinary hinges located close together, but oriented at 90° relative to each other.”

The rotary motors connected to the shafts are simulated running at 100 GHz. That’s fast. —Christine