As the rapid growing of a wide variety of research and development activities on nanotechnoloty, ultra-high precision nanoposioners are greatly required for nano scale manipulation. In this paper, the design issues of a compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) for nanomanipulation is presented from the mechanical design point of view. A CPM is an integration of parallel and compliant mechanisms, the design considerations of which in terms of flexure joints, actuators, materials and fabrications, even modeling methods are proposed, and as an example, a new type of CPM is designed and its applications are presented for nano scale manipulation. The design guidelines outlined in this paper will be valuable for the development of CPMs applicable to nanomanipulation. © 2006 IEEE.