One thing I haven't noticed with nanotech research is that nobody has yet developed a normal scale universal assembler, not to mention one that can replicate itself. From what I've seen, all nanotech companies are trying to build the final generation at the nanoscale first, which seems awfully bassackwards to me. Thats tantamount to having an R&D project during WWII to build a Pentium III chip. I say build a human scale assembler, that you can program to create any item wanted (especially items larger than itself), and then develop an assembler that can not only do that but replicate itself. Once this is achieved, work on making successive generations smaller until you get to the nano scale.
Mike Lorrey