NanoManipulator allows fine touch at nanoscale

from the tools-of-the-trade dept.
An article on the SmallTimes website ("Tools let scientists virtually reach out and touch a nanotube", by Candace Stuart, 9 Augusut 2001) provides an update on the NanoManipulator, an interactive device that coverts data from a scanning probe microscope into sensory information. High-power graphics programs let an operator see the sample three dimensionally and look at it from various perspectives. A control arm that fits in the hand like a pen allows researchers to guide the probe to any spot on the sample to "feel" it, and allows them to exert force on the molecule to move it around.
The NanoManipulator is the result of seven years of research and development by physics and computer science faculty and students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. UNC has created a company called 3rdTech, whose goal is to develop products and spin-off business from research at UNC. 3rdTech is commercializing the NanoManipulator system.