Molecular mechanics simulation of bio-nanorobotic components using force feedback

This paper presents a molecular mechanics study using a molecular dynamics software (NAMD) coupled to virtual reality (VR) techniques for intuitive bio-nanorobotic prototyping. Using simulated bio-nano environments in VR, the operator can design and characterize through physical simulation and 3-D visualization the behavior of bionanorobotic components and structures. The main novelty of the proposed simulations is based on the characterization of stiffness performances of passive joints-based deca-alanine protein molecule and active joints-based viral protein motor (VPL) in their native environment. Their use as elementary bionanorobotic components (1 dof platform) are also simulated and the results discussed