Acoustic levitation utilised to build elaborate structures in mid-air

Sound waves have been used to build sophisticated buildings in mid-air out of floating elements and droplets of glue, showing the method could have engineering and health care purposes

By Matthew Sparkes

Specifically sculpted audio waves have been utilized to levitate components and small droplets of speedy-location glue to build intricate structures piece by piece in mid-air. The tactic may have sensible engineering and medical apps.

Asier Marzo at the General public University of Navarre, Spain, and his colleagues have formulated a program termed LeviPrint, which utilizes a robot arm that can build pretty particular audio waves. The arm’s movement and acoustic levitation qualities imply that it can have parts to assemble an item from them without touching any components.

By sculpting seem waves, the equipment is able to levitate, rotate and transfer droplets of glue or resin and smaller sticks, and by combining these, it can create intricate buildings. The glue is set nearly promptly making use of a beam of ultraviolet light. Little droplets of resin can also be extra to parts and cured in the similar way, allowing the device to functionality equally to a 3D printer.

The strategy gives pros in excess of 3D printing, suggests the group: a huge range of resources can be used and it can manage liquids, powders and hot or dangerous substances.

The prototype operates with 40 kilohertz sound waves and the largest items productively utilised so far have been 8-centimetre-lengthy sticks of balsa wooden.

Marzo states there will be engineering purposes for the technological know-how, and because audio waves can vacation by liquids and the human body, there may possibly also be health-related makes use of.

“It’s evident that we could try to implement these approaches to also manipulate some supplies inside of the human human body,” he says. “Maybe our 1st tips are not so much about fabricating inside of the human body, but manipulating or translating some features inside of of it possibly nano robots, microscopic cameras or it’s possible you could transportation some medication to a wanted location.”

Journal reference: SIGGRAPH ’22 Convention Proceedings, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3528233.3530752