ABSTRACT
Top-down approach utilizing serial nanohandling by • microrobot systems. e main goal is the miniaturization of robots, manipulators, and their tools as well as the adaptation of the robotic technology (sensing, actuating, control, automation) to the demands of MST and nanotechnology. is approach is the major topic of this chapter. Bottom-up approach or self-assembly utilizing parallel • nanohandling by the autonomous organization of microand nano-objects into patterns or structures without human intervention. e use of a scanning probe microscope (SPM) as a nanohan-• dling robot. In this approach, the (functionalized) tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM) probe or of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) probe acts as a robot end-e ector a ecting the position or the shape of a nano-scale part.
