Cloudscape

In future, nanorobots could be used to form larger things, like cells form organs, assembling to form a greater whole. Also, however, they could be used to actually create a larger thing outside of themselves, like some cells create the inorganic matrix in bone, or like human builders creating a building. In this way, they could be used to create anything from almost any material.

Suppose that a wall of nanorobots would form in a body part (eg an arm) along the tissues; wherever they are, they imitate the function of the cells next to them; if there are no cells next to them, as in a cavity or vein, there aught not to be any nanorobots at all. In this way, every organic structure retains its normal function, even tendons, veins, and nerves. This wall then thickens, so that it becomes part of the body part, indirectly keeping the two halves together so that it still functions normally. This wall of nanorobots could then keep growing indefinitely, so that the body part would become extendable. In this way, one could, in principle, temporarily extend one's arm for meters. Admittedly, doing this safely would require advanced technology which today can only be carried out in science-fiction.

Rather than having each nanorobot obtain their own energy, nanorobots could energize one another by connecting to one another throughout whatever matrix they are in; on condition, that is, that they are present in sufficient density to form a kind of microscopic "mesh" of concatenated nanorobots. In this way, the energy could evenly be distributed and the collective system could work for a considerably longer time without renewal of energy; furthermore, renewal of energy could happen more easily, and could be done from an external electric source, because rather than having each nanorobot connect to it they could serially connect to it in a chain, like a nanoscale cable or series of branching cables.