Main aim was to create a force field, which can hold an object.
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They named their device, and its ability to attract particles, a “tractor beam” – after the fictional energy rope in Star Trek.
A team of researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Sussex along with Ultrahaptics have developed the world’s first sonic tractor beam that can lift and move objects using sound waves. They control several dozen loud speakers individually so that an acoustic hologram is created to manipulate different objects in real-time without any physical contact.
The researchers said their device could be used to transport delicate components on assembly lines without them needing to be physically touched.
These sound waves surround the object and creates a sort of force field that not only keeps the object in place but also enable us to move the object around by carefully controlling the output of the loudspeakers.
“We all know that sound waves can have a physical effect”, said Bruce Drinkwater, Professor of Ultrasonics at the University of Bristol.
The findings were detailed in the journal Nature Communications. Marzo said that there could be possible medical applications.
“It is the same as when you go to the doctor for an echography or when they destroy kidney stones with ultrasound”, wrote Marzo in an email to NBC News. For examples, sound waves could maneuver a drug capsule through soft tissue.
Scientists in Spain have shown off a real, working tractor beam moving objects through the air.
Marzo noted that more powerful sonic tractor beams are capable of levitating bigger objects from greater distances and could control objects floating adrift in zero-gravity environments like inside the global Space Station.
“Acoustic waves can penetrate through flesh, vessels and bones”, explained Asier Marzo, PhD student at the University of Sussex and lead author of the study.
One resembled a pair of fingers or tweezers, another took the form of a swirling “vortex”, and a third enclosed the object in a “cage”.
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It’s a classic science fiction scene: A large vessel moves near a smaller one, captures it in a so-called tractor beam, and pulls it inside. The researchers believe their work can be applied to medicine in order to design more targeted, focused treatments, Live Science reported.
