Chemists at New York University and Nanjing University have developed a two-armed nanorobotic device that can manipulate molecules within a device built from DNA.

The new, two-armed device is 150 x 50 x 8 nanometers in size and employs DNA origami, a method that uses a few hundred short DNA strands to direct a very long DNA strand to form structures that adopt any desired shape.

The device enables the creation of new DNA structures, potentially serving as a factory for assembling the building blocks of new materials such as synthetic fibers, advance the encryption of information, and improve DNA-scaffolded computer assembly.