The Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS) aims to develop a storehouse of mechanical components hundreds of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
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"Right now, we make most nanodevices one at a time, sometimes as laboriously as atom by atom," Zettl says. "That approach can prove a concept, but if you can't scale up then it becomes a curiosity instead of a viable technology. We need automated assembly at the nanoscale."