Editing Nanotechnology (section)

===Speculative===
These subfields seek to [[Futures studies|anticipate]] what inventions nanotechnology might yield, or attempt to propose an agenda along which inquiry could progress. These often take a big-picture view, with more emphasis on societal implications than engineering details.
*Molecular nanotechnology is a proposed approach that involves manipulating single molecules in finely controlled, deterministic ways. This is more theoretical than the other subfields, and many of its proposed techniques are beyond current capabilities.
*[[Nanorobotics]] considers self-sufficient machines operating at the nanoscale. There are hopes for applying nanorobots in medicine.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kubik T, Bogunia-Kubik K, Sugisaka M | title = Nanotechnology on duty in medical applications | journal = Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 17–33 | date = February 2005 | pmid = 15727553 | doi = 10.2174/1389201053167248 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Leary SP, Liu CY, Apuzzo ML | title = Toward the emergence of nanoneurosurgery: part III--nanomedicine: targeted nanotherapy, nanosurgery, and progress toward the realization of nanoneurosurgery | journal = Neurosurgery | volume = 58 | issue = 6 | pages = 1009–26 | date = June 2006 | pmid = 16723880 | doi = 10.1227/01.NEU.0000217016.79256.16 | s2cid = 33235348 }}</ref> Nevertheless, progress on innovative materials and patented methodologies have been demonstrated.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cavalcanti A, Shirinzadeh B, Freitas RA, Kretly LC | title = Medical nanorobot architecture based on nanobioelectronics | journal = Recent Patents on Nanotechnology | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–10 | year = 2007 | pmid = 19076015 | doi = 10.2174/187221007779814745 | s2cid = 9807497 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Boukallel M, Gauthier M, Dauge M, Piat E, Abadie J | title = Smart microrobots for mechanical cell characterization and cell convoying | journal = IEEE Transactions on Bio-Medical Engineering | volume = 54 | issue = 8 | pages = 1536–40 | date = August 2007 | pmid = 17694877 | doi = 10.1109/TBME.2007.891171 | s2cid = 1119820 | url = https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00179481/file/Gauthier-00650-2005-R2-electronic_version.pdf }}</ref>
*Productive nanosystems are "systems of nanosystems" could produce atomically precise parts for other nanosystems, not necessarily using novel nanoscale-emergent properties, but well-understood fundamentals of manufacturing. Because of the discrete (i.e. atomic) nature of matter and the possibility of exponential growth, this stage could form the basis of another industrial revolution. [[Mihail Roco]] proposed four states of nanotechnology that seem to parallel the technical progress of the Industrial Revolution, progressing from passive nanostructures to active nanodevices to complex [[nanomachine]]s and ultimately to productive nanosystems.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Roco MC | title = International Perspective on Government Nanotechnology Funding in 2005. | journal = Journal of Nanoparticle Research | date = December 2005 | volume=7 | issue = 6 |pages=707–712 |url=https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/nano/reports/mcr_05-0526_intpersp_nano.pdf |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131175645/http://nsf.gov/crssprgm/nano/reports/mcr_05-0526_intpersp_nano.pdf|archive-date=2012-01-31 |doi=10.1007/s11051-005-3141-5 | bibcode = 2005JNR.....7..707R }}</ref>
*[[Programmable matter]] seeks to design materials whose properties can be easily, reversibly and externally controlled though a fusion of [[information science]] and [[materials science]].
*Due to the popularity and media exposure of the term nanotechnology, the words [[picotechnology]] and [[femtotechnology]] have been coined in analogy to it, although these are used only informally.