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Nanobots, which are theoretical tiny robots a single nanometre wide one billionth of a metre are currently being worked on and in the future may dominate the planet if they get out of control.

They can be used for several purposes but boffins hope to use them mainly for in-body procedures, such as replacing cells in the body for fighting things such as cancer.

Such would be the technology that the nanobots would be able to act as if they are cells and self-replicate, most likely through protein folding, where they can split and create another version of themselves.

Louis A Del Monte, physicist and author of the book Nanoweapons, wrote in an article for the Huffington Post: You can think of them as the technological equivalent of bacteria and viruses.

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The minuscule bots are expected to arrive in the 2050s, according to Dr Del Monte, following the rise of artificial intelligence, which will help to create the revolutionary bots.

While experts are developing nanobots for the good, there are fear this could quickly get out of control.

Eric Drexler, an engineer who is considered one of the pioneers of nanotechnology, warned in his book Engines of Creation way back in 1986: Imagine such a replicator floating in a bottle of chemicals, making copies of itselfthe first replicator assembles a copy in one thousand seconds, the two replicators then build two more in the next thousand seconds, the four build another four, and the eight build another eight.

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At the end of 10 hours, there are not thirty-six new replicators, but over 68 billion.

In less than a day, they would weigh a ton; in less than two days, they would outweigh the Earth; in another four hours, they would exceed the mass of the Sun and all the planets combinedif the bottle of chemicals hadn't run dry long before.

He goes on to warn that they could begin destroying and replacing all biological life on Earth leading to the end of humanity in what is known as The Grey Goo Scenario.

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Mr Drexler: Early assembler-based replicators could beat the most advanced modern organisms. 'Plants' with 'leaves' no more efficient than today's solar cells could out-compete real plants, crowding the biosphere with an inedible foliage.

Tough, omnivorous 'bacteria' could out-compete real bacteria: they could spread like blowing pollen, replicate swiftly, and reduce the biosphere to dust in a matter of days.

Dangerous replicators could easily be too tough, small, and rapidly spreading to stopat least if we made no preparation.

We have trouble enough controlling viruses and fruit flies.

Chris Phoenix, Director of Research of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) however says that there are other things to worry about with nanotechnology.

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He wrote in a paper titled Safe Exponential Manufacturing along with Mr Drexler, who has tried to distance himself from the grey goo scenario a term he coined: Runaway replication would only be the product of a deliberate and difficult engineering process, not an accident.

Far more serious, however, is the possibility that a large-scale and convenient manufacturing capacity could be used to make powerful non-replicating weapons in unprecedented quantity, leading to an arms race or war.

Policy investigation into the effects of molecular nanotechnology should consider deliberate abuse as a primary concern, and runaway replication as a more distant issue.

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Self-replicating Nanobots could DESTROY all life on Earth, warn experts - Express.co.uk