Prototyping Bio-Nanorobots using Molecular Dynamics Simulation

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 Bio-NanoRobotic 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 Bio-NanoRobotic components (1 dof platform) are also simulated and the results discussed.