Japan's expectations for their large micromachine project are described. First applications will be in medicine.
Computer modeling can play a vital role in the basic research.
I described a new Japanese government project to perform research and development in the field of micromachines. Here we fill in some background on the expectations and key problems. It is clear that the main applications will be firstly within the medical field. To develop the needed technology, computing, materials, electronic device manufacturing, and other areas will need to contribute. There is a close connection between so-called intelligent materials and micromachines, in the sense that intelligent materials can become the materials for producing micromachines and their smaller versions, which should be called nanomachines.