manipulator the compliantly floated body 5 rigidly holds a part to be assembled into a mating part the multiple elastic components 15 55 are selected from a palette of four different elastic component structural types that are illustrated in fig3 6 and will be described in detail hereafter each elastic component is a low friction mechanism that provides 6 degrees of freedom and elastic behavior along and or about a single axis ball bearings are used throughout to reduce friction and to ensure that elastic or springlike behavior dominates the mechanical resistance to deflection an arrangement of elements common to all four types of elastic components is illustrated in fig2 the single axis of compliance in each typical elastic component generally identified by the numeral 62 is defined by the geometry of the connection of the specific components 15 55 to respective portions 6 and 11 of the compliantly floated body 5 and the support body 10 each component 15 55 connects to the support body 10 using a low friction 2 axis gimbal 60 with orthogonal revolute joints that intersect at point 61 and connects to the compliantly floated body 5 again using a low friction 2 axis gimbal 65 with orthogonal revolute joints that intersect at point 66 gimbals 60 65 are.