Karmela Padavic- Callaghan is a writer.
There is a hologram above a rabbit.
Ryuji Hirayama is a student at University College London.
The use of sound waves to levitate objects has been done in crowded rooms. The acoustic levitation can only be done in empty spaces, but a new method can be used to adjust the sound waves to keep the object in the air.
Air particles move together in sound waves. They can pick up objects if they are manipulated correctly. The levitating object can come tumbling down if the sound waves run into something else.
Ryuji Hirayama and his colleagues at University College London used sound to levitate glowing beads. They have developed a technique that allows them tolevitate and manipulate objects above the ground.
A group of people, led by Hirayama, levitate objects with a grid of small speakers. The computer adjusted the shape of the sound waves to keep themlevitating when they encountered objects that scatter them.
The researchers used a small plastic rabbit to demonstrate their technique. One experiment made illuminated beads fly around a rabbit in the shape of a butterfly, which the researcher could control with his fingers.
They put a piece of transparent fabric above the rabbit and used a projector to show the rabbit. A seemingly 3D rabbit hologram was created.
A drop of paint was put over the water. When suspending objects that can change shape above a surface that can wiggle as it reflects sound, it shows that their algorithm works.
Bruce Drinkwater says that the new technique could be used to project information with a lot of wow factor. Sound waves can be used to mix materials without anyone touching them. He says that the new method seems more robust than previous ones.
He and his colleagues have only considered acoustic levitation in spaces full of sound-scattering objects that don't move at all or in a few predictable ways, such as a hand trying to touch a hologram. They want to perfect their mid-air object manipulation using sound when everything is moving in unexpected ways.
He wants the technology to respond to objects in real time.
Science Advances was published in the journal.
There are more on this topic.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
