Shrinking machines down to the size where they can be inserted into the human body in order to detect and repair diseased cells is a popular idea of the benefits of nanotechnology, and one that even comes close to reality. Many companies are already in clinical trials for drug delivery mechanisms based on nanotechnology, but unfortunately none of them involve miniature submarines. It turns out that there are whole ranges of more efficient ways that nanotechnology can enable better drug delivery without resorting to the use of nanomachines.
Just the concept of navigating ones way around the body at will does not bear serious scrutiny. Imagine attempting to go against the flow in an artery-- it would be like swimming upstream in a fast flowing river, while boulders the size of houses, red and while blood cells, rained down on you. Current medical applications of nanotechnology are far more likely to involve improved delivery methods, such as pulmonary or epidermal methods to avoid having to pass through the stomach, encapsulation for both delivery and delayed release, and eventually the integration of detection with delivery, in order for drugs to be delivered exactly where they are needed, thus minimizing side effects on healthy tissue and cells. As far as navigation goes, delivery will be by exactly the same method that the human body uses, going with the flow and `dropping anchor' when the drug encounters its target.
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