Third proposed UK ideas factory project

There is a need for a high level instruction language and a computer compiler that translates commands in this language into instructions for the ‘nano-assembler’. Translate build instructions to specific pick and place actions for a SPM or other accurate pick and place tool.

An ambition to assemble molecules and materials under atomically precise control demands a big leap forward in control engineering and computer science. Is it possible to anticipate the properties and needs of a ‘nano-assembler’? If so, there is a need for a high level instruction language and a computer compiler that translates commands in this language into instructions for the ‘nano-assembler’. This development will require a breakthrough in understanding of chemical synthesis that must embrace the radically new ‘pick and place’ assembly method which is now possible in scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The Matter Compiler project is thus both an exercise in foresight, to anticipate developments in this area, and a prototype implementation for the engineering control and computer science aspects of directed molecular assembly. It has as inputs data from SPM experiments of collaborators, energy landscapes for ‘pick and place’ reactions and the vast knowledge base of classical synthetic chemistry, including methodologies such as retrosynthesis. This will be supplemented by reaction schemes for ‘pick and place’ reactions deduced from first principles quantum chemistry calculations and the technology of object oriented databases and inference engines.

Was the last part of my comment here any inspiration for this specific project choice? (you can create a molecular manufacturing processes design language
remove hydrogen, passivate surface etc…) Regardless this is a necessary and useful project to perform.