Minibots

Assume you have available 1E13 atoms for each minibot, and that you may select each atom by isotope. You must arrange these atoms in three dimensions to provide:

Power receiver (no power storage is needed).

Communications module providing data exchange over at least 1m at 1Mb/s. This cannot power other minibots.

Computing module, at least 16 bit 16MB 128MHz, no provision needed for software upgrade (these are short-life units regenerated with improved designs).

Independent movement in hops, up to 1E-2m on the surface or limitless in orbit. Latching to a surface might be sensible. An electromagnetic clamp and latch with data interface would be helpful for locating, for example, refiner and plate bots. How they approach each other is so far unspecified but they need very-local mobility to achieve that. Similarly, latching to a railgun prior to deposition during construction needs the same degree of alignment.

No maintenance access is needed, these are short-life units, the minibot will be dismantled back to atoms at end of life.

Expected lifetime perhaps 100 days depending on how long they take to construct.

The classes of minibot required are refinery minibot, builder minibot, isotope plate minibot, power distribution minibot

The size of these minibots is unpredictably fluid until we get a grip on the design of each, they may well turn out to be larger.

link back to Here is the engineering specification