CAARMA is the name of a PC-controlled and microscope–compatible magnetic tweezer that uses a magnetic field to apply forces to micron-sized magnetic beads, while using video bead tracking to measure force and microrheological properties in complex systems. With sub—pixel spatial resolution and ms temporal resolution, CAARMA finds applications in life sciences as well as in soft condensed matter. CAARMA is currently employed at University of Zurich for studying mechanical properties and force-regulated processes in biological organisms, with an emphasis on the fundamental relation between force generation and the associated mechanical response at both the cellular and the tissue levels during embryonic development in Drosophila melanogaster.