The emerging field of robotics and automation at small spatial scales raises new scientific challenges and promises revolutionary advancements in such applications as biology, medicine, industry, micro and nanotechnologies and the environment. Phenomena at the micro and nanoscale are often markedly different from their macroscopic counterparts, and this has strong implications on robotic strategies, algorithms, software and hardware for manipulation, locomotion and control. Cells, biomolecules, and life processes all have characteristic dimensions in the nano and micro range. Artificial devices and systems at the nano and microscales will be able to interact intimately with biological ones, and are expected to lead to new scientific understanding and to new tools for such fundamental tasks as detection and treatment of disease. Moreover reliable and automatic manipulation of micro- and nanofabricated components is also a big challenge notably for the assembling of various kinds of new devices as MEMS and NEMS. RAS