Power Of Acoustics Can Now Be Used For Moving Multiple Objects Simultaneously

A team of researchers working at the Aalto University recently made an amazing discovery by using a single acoustic source to control vibration of multiple objects on a moving plate. They played bunch of some carefully constructed melodies and were able to move several objects independently as well as simultaneously over a plate towards required targets. This allowed them to write words constituted by different letters with number of loose metal pieces over a plate with melody.

The first study in this direction was done by Ernst Chladni the father of acoustics. He found that when a plate moves at a specific frequency, objects tend to move towards some positions known as nodal lines that move with respect to that frequency. Since then, all researchers assumed that the particle movement on a vibrating plate is random unless it reaches the nodal line. Quan Zhou, the leading researchers, says, “We have shown that the motion is also predictable away from the nodal lines. Now that the object does not have to be at a nodal line, we have much more freedom in controlling its motion and have achieved independent control of up to six objects simultaneously using just one single actuator. We are very excited about the results, because this probably is a new world record of how many independent motions can be controlled by a single acoustic actuator.”

The objects that were meant to be controlled were placed on the surface of manipulation plate and were tracked closely by a camera. On the basis of their pre-destined positions, the algorithm moves through a list of music notes and locates the notes that will play most significant role in moving a specific object towards a preplanned direction. Once the objects move to their pre planned positions the objects are located and the control cycles begins again. It is played again and again until the object reaches the final desired position. The new methods was recently used for moving several object simultaneously including water droplets, electronic components, candy bars, seeds, and a few others.