Understanding the relative motion of objects in contact is essential for controlling macroscopic lubrication and adhesion, for comprehending biological macromolecular interfaces, and for developing submicrometre-scale electromechanical devices(1,2) An object undergoing lateral motion while in contact with a second object can either roll or slide. The resulting energy loss and mechanical wear depend largely on which mode of motion occurs. At the macroscopic scale, rolling(3) is preferred over sliding, and it is expected to have an equally important role in the microscopic domain. Although progress has been made in our understanding of the dynamics of sliding at the atomic level(4), we have no comparable insight into rolling owing to a lack of experimental data on microscopic length scales. Here we produce controlled rolling of carbon nanotubes on graphite surfaces using an atomic force microscope. We measure the accompanying energy loss and compare this with sliding. Moreover, by reproducibly rolling a nanotube to expose different faces to the substrate and to an external probe, we are able to study the object over its complete surface.