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 Introduction
• Utility fog is a term suggested by Dr. John Storrs Hall to
describe a hypothetical collection of tiny robots together
performing a certain function.

• It has a body about the size of a human cell and 12 arms

sticking out in all directions.

• It can simulate to the same precision

as measured by the human senses
most of the physical properties.
• The main
property of the
Utility Fog is that
it can simulate
itself not being
there.

• It can not only

recreate objects
but also people.
“Fog People”

• The physical technology of an Utility fog is actually

quite conservative. The software is more
challenging.
 Modes of Operation
• There are two modes of operation.

• In native mode individual foglets move into different positions

and perform certain mechanical operations depending on
what object it is forming.

• In fog mode, the foglets do not move,

but act more like pixels on a television
screen - they pixelate.
 Design : How to build a Fog?
• Most currently proposed nanotechnological designs are based on
carbon. For a foglet however, aluminum oxide is used.

• Each Foglet has twelve arms, arranged as the faces of a

dodecahedron. The arms telescope rather than having joints. The
arms swivel on a universal joint at the base, and the gripper at the
end cart rotate about the arm’s axis.

• The gripper is a hexagonal structure with three fingers, mounted

on alternating faces of the hexagon. Two Foglets grasp hands in an
interleaved six-finger grip. Since the fingers are designed to match
the end of the other arm, this provides a relatively rigid
connection.
A Foglet
The Grip
Foglets – The Internal Schematic
 Communication and Control
• Using a RISC design allows a single processor to control a 100
kHz arm; using auxiliary controllers will let it do all 12 easily.

• A problem face here is heat dissipation.

• As long as the computers can go into a standby mode when the

Fog is standing still this is quite workable.

• If the Fog were configured as a store-and-forward network it

would be very inefficient. Instead virtual circuits using optical
repeaters can be implemented.
Properties
 Limitations
• Anything requiring hard metal

• Anything requiring both high strength and low volume.

• Anything requiring high heat.

• Anything requiring molecular manipulation or chemical

transformation: Fog cannot simulate food, or anything else
that is destined to be broken down chemically.
 Advantages & Applications
• Safety.

• An appropriately built house filled with Fog could even

protect its inhabitants from the physical effects of a nuclear
weapon within 95% or so of its lethal blast area.

• Flexibility.

• It could be used form a simple table. Then when you get tired
of that simple table the robots could simply be made to shift
around a little and you'd have an elegant table instead.
 Summary
• Utility fog is a term suggested by Dr. John Storrs Hall to
describe a nanotechnological collection of tiny robots
together performing a certain function

• It is a substance of the future that would give you the powers

of
1. Creation
2. Levitation
3. Manipulation
4. Teleportation