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I wonder if this would be a good technology for a pick-and-place robot for circuits. Obviously the palsy needs to be fixed, but assuming that's solvable, it wo

I wonder if this would be a good technology for a pick-and-place robot for circuits. Obviously the palsy needs to be fixed, but assuming that's solvable, it would be interesting to see it used as perfectly sterile tweezers. Alternately, there seems to be some impressive vertical momentum imparted. Perhaps it could be used to launch small components into the air to be caught by another acoustic field, which does a more refined drop or transfer. Or... Well, there's an awful lot of applications, really. Truly cool tech.* * This isn't the first time a trick like this has been done, but it's the first I've seen with such control and dexterity. Low frequency sound "halting" flow of water (illusion): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mODqQvlrgIQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mODqQvlrgIQ Non-Newtonian fluid on speaker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zoTKXXNQIU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zoTKXXNQIU Of course yesterday's article on General Fusion showing the power of a well focused waveform: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6996683 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6996683

Someone 13y ago
"Well, there's an awful lot of applications, really." I doubt it. Firstly, how does one fix that 'palsy'? Secondly, I wonder how much power this thing takes to lift those tiny objects (what does a resistor weigh? Rounding up, it's maybe a tenth of a cubic centimeter. Rounding up, its density is 10kg/l, so that's at most a gram). Low efficiency can make lots of applications prohibitively expensive. But cool tech? Certainly.
- HCIdivision17 13y ago
  I imagine that the palsy is the result of not tuning the node to match the component perfectly. But it may also be subject to a theoretical limitation due to what frequencies can be interfered with before the air stops behaving properly; I assume there's plenty of control left for tuning, but it may just not be possible. I am definitely out of my technical depth on that; may be fun to look up papers on the topic, assuming few with paywalls. And yes, it is likely wildly inefficient. I could still see it being used as a touchless guidance/placement device, but it would likely need a hellaciously fast camera system to work in tandem as components stream between speaker sets. (I'm referencing something like the system that rejects bad potato chips, but with the ability to route/align components.) Is there an application that needs touch-free interaction? I assume so, but honestly can't think of one, let alone needing this level of control. It definitely feels like a technology in search of an application (like GorillaGlass).

Someone 13y ago

"Well, there's an awful lot of applications, really." I doubt it. Firstly, how does one fix that 'palsy'? Secondly, I wonder how much power this thing takes to lift those tiny objects (what does a resistor weigh? Rounding up, it's maybe a tenth of a cubic centimeter. Rounding up, its density is 10kg/l, so that's at most a gram). Low efficiency can make lots of applications prohibitively expensive. But cool tech? Certainly.

HCIdivision17 13y ago
I imagine that the palsy is the result of not tuning the node to match the component perfectly. But it may also be subject to a theoretical limitation due to what frequencies can be interfered with before the air stops behaving properly; I assume there's plenty of control left for tuning, but it may just not be possible. I am definitely out of my technical depth on that; may be fun to look up papers on the topic, assuming few with paywalls. And yes, it is likely wildly inefficient. I could still see it being used as a touchless guidance/placement device, but it would likely need a hellaciously fast camera system to work in tandem as components stream between speaker sets. (I'm referencing something like the system that rejects bad potato chips, but with the ability to route/align components.) Is there an application that needs touch-free interaction? I assume so, but honestly can't think of one, let alone needing this level of control. It definitely feels like a technology in search of an application (like GorillaGlass).