prolog

Chapter 1: Convergent Thinking of Nanorobotic Engineers
Connecting the individual microcosms of humanity

01 Dyslexic professor reading a book with a 30cm ruler
02 An experimentalist who constantly asks questions and seeks answers
03 A fusion human who connects different ideas


Chapter 2: The Wonders of Nanorobotics
Connecting our macrocosm with the microcosm within our bodies

The History of Micro and Nano Robots
01 Invisible, ultra-small machines: micro- and nano-robots
02 Bacterial nanomotors that capture the inherent strength of life
03 Bacteria-Powered Microrobots Dancing to the Beat of Electric Fields (1)
04 Bacteria-Powered Microrobots that Evade Defenders and Score Goal (2)
05 Microcyborg, a new cell-based robot that has never been seen before
06 The dream of inner space, expanding our world into the human body
07 Transformer nanorobots that self-assemble like magnetic beads depending on the environment
08 Bacterial nanorobots mimicking bacterial flagella
09 Artificial Cell Soft Microrobots with Freely Changing Shapes
10 Maestro Project: A Smart Nanorobot Manufacturing Factory Inside Our Bodies


Chapter 3: The Macrocosm That Created the Microcosm
Numerous mentors who created a nanorobotic engineer

ㆍAcademic Genealogy (Teacher Edition) - An Elegant Genealogy of Micro- and Nano-Robotics

01 Inner Space: Imagining the Universe Within Our Bodies
02 Family Legacy: Learning How to Communicate
03 Take on challenges in non-major fields and develop multidisciplinary research capabilities.
04 Experiences in Exile, a Fateful Encounter with Dasan, and the Path of a Researcher
05 Numerous mentors who created a nanorobotic engineer
06 Numerous colleagues with one nanorobotic engineer


Chapter 4: The Macrocosm Created by the Microcosm
A nanorobotic engineer raises countless disciples.

ㆍAcademic Genealogy (Disciple Edition) ─ The Elegant Genealogy of Micro-Nano Robotics
01 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, The 'First' Disciples
02 Korean disciples who give strength just by their presence
03 From a disciple to a fellow researcher advancing together, Dr. Jeong Yu-gi
04 Disciples who left to find a different path, leaving behind regrets
05 Disciples who spread out into the world, rooted in their teacher


Chapter 5: The Future Imagined by Nanoroboticists
Connecting Today's Imagination with Tomorrow's Reality

01 A landscape no one has yet seen, becoming the momentum to enjoy failure.
02 The Language of Mathematics: Reading Natural Phenomena and Making Imagination Real
03 Research with students, continuing the academic tradition while engaging in your passions.
04 A nation's research competitiveness depends on an environment that guarantees competition and collaboration.
05 10 Years of Animal Testing: Exploring the Future of Clinical Trials
06 Nanorobots of the Future: Connecting Today's Imagination with Tomorrow's Reality

Acknowledgements

“Professor Kim Min-jun has developed a truly fantastic and innovative technology.
What we only knew as the subject of science fiction has been made into a reality of science.
“We saw limitless potential in his skills.”
- Comments from the UNESCO-Netxplo Awards jury

The world's first 'Transformer' nanorobot that changes shape and explores the inside of the human body has been developed!
"Inner Space" made real by Professor Minjun Kim of Southern Methodist University

The above commentary is one of the many accolades Professor Kim Min-jun received at the 2016 UNESCO-Netexplo Award ceremony.
The UNESCO-Netexplo Award is an award given annually by UNESCO, in collaboration with the French Parliament and the Ministry of Digital Economy, to the most innovative and promising innovative technologies. Professor Kim Min-jun received the award in recognition of his development of a microrobot that swims along arterial blood vessels.

The reason the UNESCO-Netxplo Award jury described Professor Kim Min-jun's microrobot as "sci-fi" is not simply because his robot is so small that it is invisible.
Because it not only removes blockages in blood vessels by swimming inside them, but also allows drugs to be delivered precisely to specific parts of the body, in other words, it has opened up a way into the universe inside our bodies that is both very close and very distant to us.


The science fiction robot developed by Professor Kim Min-jun was already introduced in a science fiction movie 30 years ago.
The movie with the same name as this book is called “Inner Space,” which means “the universe inside the body.”
This movie features a scene where a miniature submarine explores the inside of the human body, and Professor Kim Min-jun actively utilized this science fiction imagination in his research on nanorobots.
The world's first 'Transformer' nanorobot he developed is also an example of the use of science fiction imagination.
Professor Kim Min-jun recalls that he came up with the idea, "What if we could change our own shape like the robots in 'Transformers'?" while observing that nanorobots had difficulty moving due to the diverse fluid environments in the human body, such as nasal mucus, spinal fluid, and blood.
The development of Transformer nanorobots has significantly improved the drug delivery and detection capabilities of nanorobots, thereby establishing Professor Kim Min-jun as a world-renowned scholar.

In this way, this book provides spectacular entertainment by showing how science fiction imagination becomes reality and how a dyslexic young man born and raised in Korea becomes a world-renowned scholar.
But just as there is light, there is also shadow, and the book also details the life of Professor Kim Min-jun, who is fiercely challenging himself underwater.
As you read about his 'journey of innovation', which was filled with countless failures, you will naturally find yourself rooting for his challenges.

From cancer cell removal and high-resolution brain mapping to tissue regeneration and memory access.
Transformer nanorobots become a catalyst for accelerating the commercialization of medical nanorobots.
Professor Minjun Kim's nanorobot, equipped with the inherent power of bacteria, viruses, and living organisms.

Micro-nano robots (hereinafter referred to as nanorobots) may seem to have the most important feature of being one-hundred-thousandth the thickness of a human hair, but in fact, they have an even more important feature.
That is, it was designed and manufactured to be able to swim and move in body fluids.
Our lives changed dramatically when nanorobots entered our bodies.
The direction and speed of nanorobots in the body can be controlled through magnetic fields, and if we can fully manipulate them, we will be able to solve problems that were previously too large to be possible.
For example, it will be possible to deliver drugs that destroy cancer cells and tumors by reaching the inside of the body that cannot be reached by human hands or general surgical robots, and if nanorobots are inserted into the brain, it will be possible to explore the human brain, which has been considered an unknown area until now.


Therefore, the key is how to make nanorobots move inside the human body.
As explained earlier, the human body is mostly made up of various mucus, including nasal mucus, spinal fluid, and blood.
This is a fluid to which Newton's laws do not apply (hereinafter referred to as a non-Newtonian fluid), and unless one can freely swim through this sticky swamp of non-Newtonian fluid, it is impossible to accurately deliver drugs to a specific area.
To solve this problem, Professor Kim Min-jun developed a bacterial robot (first-generation bacterial nanorobot) that mimics the ability of bacteria to swim vigorously even in non-Newtonian fluids.
And going further, we developed a robot that automatically recognizes changes in the fluid environment and transforms into the most optimized form. This is the Transformer Nanorobot (second-generation bacterial nanorobot).
By being equipped with this shape-changing function, nanorobots can move freely even in harsh fluid environments, which will soon become a momentum for advancing the commercialization of medical nanorobots.


Even after developing the Transformer nanorobot, Professor Kim Min-jun continued to evolve his nanorobot.
As the second-generation bacterial nanorobot struggled to penetrate the obstacle of the cell wall, the bacterial nanorobot was given the ability to rotate in a three-dimensional spiral structure (third-generation bacterial nanorobot).
As it evolves from the first generation to the third generation, it reaches the commercialization level only in terms of hardware.
However, there remains a software issue to fully control the complex internal structure of the human body. To address this, Professor Kim Min-jun is currently conducting research to equip nanorobots with artificial intelligence's deep learning capabilities.
Furthermore, research is ongoing to replace artificial bacteria with other materials for more efficient drug delivery systems. Professor Kim Min-jun's next-generation nanorobot material, surprisingly, is a virus, a "master of penetration."
In 2020, the virus, which emerged as a "catastrophe for humanity," is undergoing a process of innovation in Professor Kim Min-jun's laboratory, being reborn as "the salvation of humanity."

How did the world's first Transformer nanorobot come to be?
Interdisciplinary thinking that connects different disciplines such as mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and microbiology

“Nanorobotics is not a discipline that can be pursued alone.
“It is a humanistic process that produces results one by one through joint research through communication with researchers from various academic fields.”
- 〈Prologue〉

As Professor Kim Min-jun emphasizes in the Prologue, nanorobotics is a discipline that cannot be pursued alone.
As explained earlier, nanorobots, unlike the robots we commonly know, must be small enough to be invisible and must be able to move freely inside the human body.
That's why, to create nanorobots, we can't just focus on robotics.
It is necessary to cover a wide range of fields, including biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, materials engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, microbiology, and medicine.
So, does that mean a nanorobotics engineer must be an all-round genius like Leonardo da Vinci? Professor Kim Min-jun says no.
He says the key is to form a convergent research team that can replace a single, all-round genius, and to connect ideas from different academic fields through convergent thinking.

A dyslexic boy born and raised in Korea, his journey to becoming a world-renowned scholar.
The Elegant Genealogy of Nanorobotics: The Mentors Who Cultivated Convergence Researchers

Professor Kim Min-jun is a typical Korean youth who was born in Korea, attended elementary, middle, and high school, and even experienced military life through ROTC.
No, rather, because of the dyslexia I had suffered from since childhood, I was far from typical in terms of learning ability.
How did he, who still cannot read a book without a 30cm ruler, rise to the ranks of world-renowned scholars at such a young age?
To answer these questions, Professor Kim Min-jun honestly describes his life from childhood to the present and introduces the various teachers he has had.
Interestingly, among the teachers who raised Professor Kim Min-jun, there were not only ‘professors’.
From my childhood experiences of breaking down the barriers between disability and non-disability while living with my maternal grandfather, who was disabled after having his right arm amputated, to my school days of overcoming dyslexia by receiving a 30cm ruler as a gift from my Korean teacher, to my military life as a rifle platoon leader working with platoon members from diverse backgrounds.
He cites his experience living with diverse people without prejudice as one of the key reasons he was able to grow into a convergence researcher.

In addition, through numerous episodes related to the professors, Nobel Prize winners, research partners, and students he met while studying abroad in the United States, the book fascinatingly unfolds the journey of a dyslexic boy to become a world-renowned scholar, as well as the research life of a world-renowned nanorobotics engineer.