Nanotechnology for Humans and Humanoids A vision of the use of nanotechnology in future robotics

Humanoids will soon co-exist with humans, helping us at home and at work, assisting elder people, replacing us in dangerous environments and somewhat adding to our personal communication devices the capability to actuate motion. In order for humanoids to be compatible with our everyday tools and our lifestyle it is however mandatory to reproduce (at least partially) the body-mind nexus that makes humans so superior to machines. This requires a totally new approach to humanoid technologies, combining new responsive and soft materials, bioinspired sensors, high efficiency power sources and cognition/intelligence of low computational cost: in other words, an unprecedented merge of nanotechnology, cognition and mechatronics.