News
Nanocar Race II reveals two winning teams
25/03/2022, 11:10 am
After an exciting and eventful 24-hours race, two teams were proclaimed winners: NANOHISPA (Cooperation between Madrid/ES and Linköping/SE) and NIMS-MANA (Tsukuba/JP) both achieved high distances and a number of turns. Congratulations!
Here are the final results of all teams:
| Pos. | Team Name | Country | Distance | Turns | Incidents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NANOHISPA | ES / SE | 678 nm | 54 | Changing lane for overpassing - Crash at 5.30pm |
| 1 | NIMS-MANA | JP | 1054 nm | 54 | Cross a tranch and go back - jump across a trench *8 |
| 3 | StrasNanocar | FR | 476 nm | 28 | Cross a trench *3 |
| 4 | Rice-Graz Nanoprix | AT / US | 403 nm | 15 | Cross a trench *2, crash |
| 5 | GAZE | DE | 259 nm | 9 | Molecule jump onto the tip |
| 6 | TOULOUSE-NARA | FR / JP | 150 nm | 10 | Molecule is lost again |
| 7 | Ohio Bobcat Nanowagon | US | 136 nm | 17 | Corss a trench *2, one wheel |
| 8 | SAN SEBASTIAN | ES | 29nm | 2 |
[more]
Nanocar Race II @CEMES-CNRS & via Web Streaming
24-25/03/2022
Nanocar Race II will take place on the CEMES-CNRS campus in Toulouse from 24/3/2022, 11:00 a.m. to 25/3/2022 11:00 a.m. 24h non-stop. The race will take place inside the "Boule" and may be followed via web streaming.
Livestream-recordings:
Nanocar Race II (part 1): Departure and race, 24/03/2022:
https://youtu.be/JRmA7jI_usg
Nanocar Race II (part 2): Night Session, 24-25/03/2022:
https://youtu.be/t4-Xh6Wy3y0
Nanocar Race II (part 3): Morning and arrival, 25/03/2022:
https://youtu.be/73SbU8TtBxc
provided by the Japanese NIMS-MANA team:
https://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv336140839
[more]
MEMO’s Nanocar Race II – Public Talks @ Lycées Français in Japan, Germany and the U.S.
14/10 - 08/12/2021
In cooperation with French Embassies/Consulates and CNRS representations, MEMO organises a series of public talks at Lycées Français in countries home to registered Nanocar Race II teams. Students are invited to learn about the overall concept of the Nanocar Race and get in direct contact with members of one of the involved teams.
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12/10/2021 Tokyo Lycée Français, Japan (with the participation of the NIMS-MANA team from Tsukuba)
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14/10/2021 Koyto Lycée Français, Japan (with the participation of the TOULOUSE-NARA team)
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01/12/2021 Berlin Lycée Français, Germany (with the participation of the GAZE team from Dresden)
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07/12/2021 Chicago Lycée Français, U.S. (with the participation of the Ohio Bobcat Nanowagon team)
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08/12/2021 Houston Lycée Français, U.S. (with the participation of the Rice-Graz team)
MEMO's Nanocar Race II - Public Talk @ Technische Sammlungen Dresden, Germany
01/12/2021, 6pm (canceled)
In conjunction with the progress evaluation of TU Dresden's Nanocar Race team “German Azulene Explorer – GAZE”, the overall concept of the Nanocar Race will be presented in a public talk. Christian Joachim (CNRS Toulouse) and Francesca Moresco (cfaed, TU Dresden) welcome all interested parties at the Technische Sammlungen Dresden to learn everyting about racing molecules. Feel free to join us on 1 Dec 2021, 6pm at Junghansstraße 1-3 in Dresden!
MEMO's Nanocar Race II Public Presentations
23/11/2021
On 23 November 2021, 6 pm all the Nanocar Race II teams officially registered presented their first molecule-car prototype to the public.
The event was live broadcasted and can still be followed on YouTube!
MEMO Workshop Toulouse
23-25/11/2021
The second MEMO workshop entitled "Single molecule mechanics on a surface: gears, motors and cars" took place as a satellite event to the 
C’NANO Conference in Toulouse from 23 to 25 November 2021, with the participation of MEMO internal and external scientists.
The workshop was focused on chemical synthesis, STM experiments, and theory concerning single-molecule machines on a surface.
MEMO project meeting Toulouse
22-23/03/2022
The MEMO project consortium met in Toulouse from 22-23 November 2021, hosted by the project partner CNRS. The consortium discussed the advances in all work packages and the preparation of the final project review.
Talk in Tabakalera "Exploring the nanoworld in a nanocar" by C. Joachim and N. Lorente
29/01/2020, 7pm
On 29 January 2020 at 19:00:00 in Kutxakultur plaza of Tabakalera, CFM presented "Exploring the nano-world in a nanocar", a talk to promote the Nanocar Race, the smallest car race in the world, by the two MEMO PIs Christian Joachim(MEMO partner CNRS) and Nicolás Lorente (MEMO Partner CSIC). [more]
MEMO Project Meeting in San Sebastian
27-29/01/2020
The MEMO project consortium met in S. Sebastian from 27-29 January 2020, hosted by the project partner CSIC. The consortium discussed the advances in all work packages and the preparation of the next project review.
2nd MEMO Academy-Industry Day in Toulouse
28/11/2019
“Immunity to radiations: mechanics instead of electronics“
This was the title of the second Academy-Industry day that took place on the 28 November 2019 in the seminar room of the Pico-Lab CNRS partner campus in Toulouse.
During the meeting, MEMO partners and invited participants from the industry discussed the application of mechanical machinery as a possible solution to the problem of immunity to radiations of the electronic components used in space industry and in nuclear power plans.
MEMO Project Meeting in Manchester
18-19/06/2019
The MEMO project consortium got together from 18th – 19th June 2019 in Manchester, kindly hosted by the project partner The 
University of Manchester. During the two-day meeting the consortium discussed the advances in all work packages and stipulated next steps.
Nanocar Race II: Results of the Preregistration
May 2019
After the first announcement in February 2018, 23 teams have declared an interest to participante in the second Nanocar Race.
13 teams from eight countries have sent by mid-2018 their pre-registered form for Nanocar Race II: seven teams are from Europe, two from Japan, two from China, and three from North America. Since the beginning of 2019 and after discussions, the organization committee is proud to announce that already 11 of those 13 teams are actively preparing the Race.
MEMO Workshop "Building and Probing Small"
25-27/03/2019
The first MEMO workshop with the title "Building and Probing Small" took place in Brussels from 25 to 27 March 2019 in the prestigious rooms and gallery of the Palace of the Academies in Brussels.
The symposium was focused on the design and synthesis of molecular machines and functional molecules, as well as their characterisation scanning probe microscopy techniques.
First MEMO Academy-Industry Day in Dresden
31/08/2018
MEMO is actively looking for a productive collaboration with the industry organizing regular meetings with interested industrials. The first Academy-Industry Day took place on the 31 August 2018 in Dresden at the QF Hotel, Neumarkt 1.
The meeting made possible to involve industries of the field of clock production and nano and micro mechanics in the MEMO progresses and to promote industrial dissemination. The Fraunhofer Institute IKTS and IPMS also participated in the organization of the meeting, contributing to the dissemination of the MEMO activities to the industry and applied science community. Prof Ina Prinz, director of the Arithmeum museum in Bonn, Germany, closed the day with a historical overview on the development of mechanical calculating machines.
MEMO Project Meeting in Graz
7-8/06/2018
The MEMO partners met at the University of Graz from 7 to 8 June 2018 to discuss about the progresses of the project and prepare the next tasks. Principal investigators, Postdocs and PhD students working in MEMO were participating.
Nanocar Race II Pre-registration is Now Open
February 2018
The European FET OPEN project
MEMO (Mechanics with Molecules) is organizing the 2nd international Nanocar Race (Nanocar Race II), which will take place in 2021 at the CEMES-CNRS in Toulouse, France. The pre-registration for Nanocar Race II is now open and will close at the end of June 2018.
In September 2018, the organization committee will screen the pre-registrations, select the teams authorized to compete, and fix the official surfaces and conditions. The list of teams, admitted to the Nanocar Race II, will be announced in January 2019. Then, each selected team will have two years to consolidate its nanocar design, the synthesis of the molecule-vehicle and the training. The final registration will be open in 2019. All teams will compete at the same time in a remote controlled mode from Toulouse. The competition will be live broadcasted.
Nanocar Race II organization committee is composed by F. Moresco (MEMO & LT-UHV), A.S. Duwez (MEMO & ambient), C. Joachim (MEMO & Europe), S.W. Hla (America), M. Ariga (Japan), H. Gao (Asia), with the Patronage of J.P. Sauvage (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016).
Background information: Nanocar
Nanocar drivers use electrons from the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) to help jolt their molecules along, typically by just tenth of nanometers each time, so that the nanocar race takes place on a very small scale. With about 100-1000 atoms and a lateral size of a few nanometers, a nanocar is a molecule with a distinguishable front and rear. Its chemical structure allows the nanocar to move on a surface when electrons flow through it from the STM tip. The propulsion mechanism can be either inelastic (related to the excitation of vibrational modes or to current-induced structural changes) or dipolar, resulting from the repulsion or attraction between the nanocar and the STM tip.
The first Nanocar Race was held in Toulouse in April 2017, and was followed live by more than 100.000 people on the Youtube-channel.
MEMO KICK OFF MEETING
2-3/11/2017
The MEMO project officially started with a two days kick off meeting in Dresden on November 2-3, 2017, where representative of all partner groups discussed the details of the project work, planning collaborations and meetings.
The MEMO partners during the visit of the original exemplar of the Pascaline by B. Pascal (ca. 1650) at the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden).
