How some floating plastic beads will change manufacturing and space exploration

Maggie Koerth 8:09 am Wed Jan 8, 2014

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

Watch this video on YouTube

Scientists have been able to levitate objects with the power of sound waves since the 1940s. But modern researchers are taking that trick to the next level. Back in July, Pesco posted about a Swiss team that had figured out how to move objects, rather than simple levitate them. Now, a Japanese team has put out a video showing how they can move objects in three-dimensional space — not just forward and backward, but up, down, and all over. There are useful applications for this stuff in industrial manufacturing — think drugs and electronics that can be contaminated by human or robotic hands, or even by containers. But the Japanese team also has their eye on outer space. 3D acoustic levitation could be a new way to control and move objects in zero G.

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