Science Daily May 24, 2024
Existing robotic platforms have difficulty achieving contactless, high-resolution, 4-degrees-of-freedom (4-DOF) manipulation of small objects, and noninvasive maneuvering of objects in regions shielded by tissue and bone barriers. A team of researchers in the US (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, University of North Carolina, University of Michigan) has developed programmable, chirality-tunable acoustic vortex tweezers that could tune acoustic vortex chirality, transmit through biological barriers, trap single micro- to millimeter-sized objects, and control object rotation. Assisted by programmable robots, the acoustic systems further enabled contactless, high-resolution translation of single objects. They demonstrated the systems by tuning acoustic vortex chirality, controlling object rotation, and translating objects along arbitrary-shaped paths. They also demonstrated monitoring acoustic object manipulation via live ultrasound imaging… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Mechanism of chirality-tunable acoustic vortex tweezers. Credit: SCIENCE ADVANCES, 24 May 2024, Vol 10, Issue 21