A Novel Method for Technology Roadmapping: Nanorobots

In the dynamic field of robotics engineering, nanorobot technology has witnessed rapid advancements. Developing a technology roadmap is essential for quickly identifying the trends and key technological aspects of nanorobotics from an array of multi-source data. Traditional research methods, such as Delphi surveys, bibliometrics, patent analysis, and patent paper citation analyses, often fail to capture the rich semantic information available. Moreover, these approaches generally provide a unidimensional perspective, which restricts their capacity to depict the complex nature of technological evolution. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper introduces a novel framework that utilizes the ALBERT method combined with multi-source data for critical theme extraction. It integrates varied data sources, including academic papers and patents, to explore the interrelation within the nanorobot technology roadmap. The methodology begins with text feature extraction, clustering algorithms, and theme mining to identify dominant technological themes. Subsequently, it applies semantic similarity measures to connect multiple themes, employing a “multi-layer ThemeRiver map” for a visual representation of these inter-layer connections. The paper concludes with a comprehensive analysis from both the technological research and industrial application perspectives, underscoring the principal developmental themes and insights of nanorobot technology, and projecting its future directions.