Bioinformatics is the interdisciplinary mix of my skill sets. Determining protein geometry was done by purification, crystallization and X ray crystallography in the 70's. Today, you sequence the protein and put it into a modeling program. Tweak the temperature, pH and ionic strength of the environment and you can predict how the protein will fold. That is the rudiments of designer proteins that perform custom tasks by design instead of evolving by genetic mishap.
I'm already somewhat involved in MEMS devices to leverage nanotechnology to create tiny accelerometers. My aim is to plant a MEMS accelerometer with a small digital signal processor and Bluetooth/Zigbee transceiver on a railcar bearing to transmit the current bearing defect profile. I'm doing that with large devices today. MEMS will cut costs, size and make the technology economically viable.
Would the devices you envision be able to add the extra channels of sensory analysis? It may be possible to develop a multi-use MEMS device which could function to analyze an entire internal combustion engine, for example, by monitoring selected parts through their cycle of motion. It would make a great oil additive.
Are they not also monitoring such things on over-the-road truck wheels? Last I heard, they were trying to use color-changing paint which was sensitive to temperature, and were scanning it with optical sensors.