Three-Dimensional Mid-Air Acoustic Manipulation [Acoustic Levitation] (2014-)

Three-Dimensional Mid-Air Acoustic Manipulation (2013,2014-)

Yoichi Ochiai / 落合陽一(The University of Tokyo / 東京大学)
Takayuki Hoshi / 星貴之(Nagoya Institute of Technology / 名古屋工業大学)
Jun Rekimoto / 暦本純一 (The University of Tokyo / Sony CSL)

The essence of levitation technology is the countervailing of gravity. It is known that an ultrasound standing wave is capable of suspending small particles at its sound pressure nodes and, so far, this method has been used to levitate lightweight particles, small creatures, and water droplets.
The acoustic axis of the ultrasound beam in these previous studies was parallel to the gravitational force, and the levitated objects were manipulated along the fixed axis (i.e. one-dimensionally) by controlling the phases or frequencies of bolted Langevin-type transducers. In the present study, we considered extended acoustic manipulation whereby millimetre-sized particles were levitated and moved three-dimensionally by localised ultrasonic standing waves, which were generated by ultrasonic phased arrays. Our manipulation system has two original features. One is the direction of the ultrasound beam, which is arbitrary because the force acting toward its centre is also utilised. The other is the manipulation principle by which a localised standing wave is generated at an arbitrary position and moved three-dimensionally by opposed and ultrasonic phased arrays. We experimentally confirmed that various materials could be manipulated by our proposed method.

@ARTICLE{2013arXiv1312.4006O,
author = {{Ochiai}, Y. and {Hoshi}, T. and {Rekimoto}, J.},
title = "{Three-dimensional Mid-air Acoustic Manipulation by Ultrasonic Phased Arrays}",
journal = {ArXiv e-prints},
archivePrefix = "arXiv",
eprint = {1312.4006},
keywords = {Physics - Classical Physics, H.5.2},
year = 2013,
month = dec,
adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

[YoichiOchiai]

We employ the ultrasonic speakers and you hear nothing around our device.

[MikeElgan]

*Incredible video shows controlled levitation by sound.*

Eggheads at the University of Tokyo made this video showing the levetation and mid-air control of various objects by sound alone. 

#science  

[nelsoncabrera]

Well, it's official, we're in the future.

Combine this with micro LEDs and wireless power induction and you get a point-cloud hologram.

[josha]

You had me at "Three-dimensional mid-air acoustic manipulation [acoustic levitation]"...

[smokeysky]

This is, without a doubt the coolest thing I've ever seen xD 
Trapping objects in sound....amazing

[UPlayNetwork]

air waves and particles, the magic of science 

[bennemann]

Let the bass drop!

... Actually, this bass doesn't drop things.

[DidntKnowWhatToPut]

That moment when 2014 feels like 2014. 

[sammyspaniel]

It will be interesting to see what real world applications come out of this.

[Chris.Davies]

Brilliant use of sound waves. Congratulations - and very nice equipment!

[RadioTrefoil]

What an exciting time to be living in! This is the most awesome thing I've seen all week!

[ArthurTucker]

Using speakers to move objects around in 3D space, *awesome*!

[MyStonerMind]

When I die I want my body donated toscience,

but more specifically a scientist who is working on bringing dead guys back to life.

[NobodyNowhereKnowhow]

That is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!

[MagneSylvain]

This is freakin' amazing science !!

[misssparkle]

i wonder how it would look with smoke ?

[mauigio]

We are getting closer....

 thank you for this awesome video!! Amazing work!!!

[MrAbeAllen]

Very cool! Congratulations, and thanks for posting publicly! 

[ChadKovac]

This proves the theory that those little white balls of Styrofoam get all over EVERYTHING.

[MyCatFooed]

Very cool! Great video!! *Thank you!!!*