The Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA) of the Chinese Academy of Science has successfully developed a prototype of namometer mini-operating robot, which has passed appraisal by an expert panel for robot in the "863" program. This signifies a nanometer robot capable of working inside a human cell is not too far away from us.

The mini-operating robot can carve "SIA" (short form for the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Science) on a silicon chip as large as two sq microns. In anther show, it succeeded in placing a carbon tube, which is 4 microns in length and 100 nanometers in diameter into a slot accurately. That is to say the error of the robot is no higher than 100 nanometers.

By People's Daily Online