University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have discovered a new method to move objects using ultrasound waves, which opens the door for using contactless manipulation in industries in which devices wouldn’t need a built-in power source to move.
It’s been demonstrated before that light and sound waves can manipulate objects, but the team has developed a method that can move larger objects using the principles of metamaterial physics.
“We have known for a while that waves and light and sound can manipulate objects. What sets our research apart is that we can manipulate and trap much bigger objects if we make their surface a metamaterial surface, or a ‘metasurface,’” said Ognjen Ilic, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota. “When we place these tiny patterns on the surface of the objects, we can basically reflect the sound in any direction we want. And in doing that, we can control the acoustic force that is exerted on an object.”
The method could prove useful for moving objects in fields such as manufacturing or robotics.
“Contactless manipulation is a hot area of research in optics and electromagnetism, but this research proposes another method for contactless actuation that offers advantages that other methods may not have,” said Matthew Stein, grad student at University of Minnesota.
The study was more of a demonstration of the concept; now the researchers aim to test out higher frequencies of waves and different materials and sizes in the future.
“In a lot of fields of science and engineering, robotics especially, there is the need to move things, to transfer a signal into some sort of controlled motion,” Ilic said. “Often this is done through physical tethers or having to carry some source of energy to be able to perform a task. I think we’re charting in a new direction here and showing that without physical contact, we can move objects, and that motion can be controlled simply by programming what is on the surface of that object. This gives us a new mechanism to contactlessly actuate things.”
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