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The Universal Planar Manipulator

Posted by Hemos on from the redecoration-made-easy dept.

macsox writes: "Wired News has an article about surfaces that, using vibrations, can move objects around at the owner's whim -- for example, using a mouse as a remote desktop arranger. Also envisioned: rooms that redecorate themselves. The scientist's page is here."

23 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Useless news department... by BrK · · Score: 2

    I dunno, this almost seems like an "obvious patent" type of thing. How many times have you watched something dance around on top of the washing machine, or watch your pager glide across the desktop when set to vibrate mode? While it's sorta neat that this guy is controlling the movements, it's hardly (IMO) all that much of a breakthrough.
    The whole thing seems really dumbed-down when they suggest a room that can re-arrange itself. Do people rearrange their rooms SO MUCH, that they would go through the expense of imbedding a bunch of motors in special honeycomb floor?

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    1. Re:Useless news department... by clare-ents · · Score: 2

      This is clearly patentable.

      Whilst the following patent would be obvious

      "Use sound to move objects around"

      the following would not

      "Using n tranducers located in y shape driven as a phased array with delays calculated by allows motion of objects on it's surface in these patterns. This can be generalised by use of "

      He's not patenting the idea of moving things with sounds. It's the implementation of doing so.

      Is this obvious to another expert in the field - I suspect the answer is no - it has taken lots of work to figure out how to do this.

      It's obvious that I could patent a 'cure for cancer' using 'drugs' but I doubt the idea I've just stated now would grant me rights over all possible cures for cancer in the future.

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      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. (Einstein)
    2. Re:Useless news department... by BrK · · Score: 2

      ry reading the scientist page.... the method used is by no means obvious.

      I _did_ read the page. Like I said, he figured out how to harness something that we've all seen. I'm sure he didn't design this on a cocktail napkin, but the general concept is nothing new, IMO.

      Basically he noticed that when you vibrate a surface, stuff tends to slide around. By controlling the surface and the vibrations, he can make objects move at will.

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  2. Box handling by Animats · · Score: 2
    Or Just think what UPS/USPS/FedEx could do with this in a warehouse full of packages?

    UPS funded some work on a similar concept some years ago. The roller conveyor that resulted had a large number of little casters, all individually steerable. Large conveyor systems have switches to divert objects to various tracks, but this works well only when there's empty space around each box or all boxes are the same size. The idea was to have something that could take in a stream of mixed boxes on a conveyor and separate them. I don't think it got beyond the research stage.

    This vibrating idea sounds like it might have potential for applications like that. The substrate could be a flexible solid instead of a mass of wheels, which would prevent jams and simplify cleaning. It might also have applications in airport baggage-handling systems.

  3. Make sure this doesn't fall into the wrong hands.. by AFCArchvile · · Score: 3

    ..or we'll all be running around in the streets, being chased by furniture, screaming, "HELP!! CHAIR!! HELP!! CHAIR!!"

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    "Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
  4. Redecorate? by Trickster+Coyote · · Score: 2

    Actually what I need is a room that will clean itself. Maybe it can be set up to vibrate all the stuff I want to keep into the closet and vibrate the rest into the trash.

    Trickster Coyote
    Reality is only an illusion.

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    Ideology is for ideots.
  5. Robot Platform? by cr0sh · · Score: 2

    I am wondering - could a few permanent "feet" be attached to the top of the thing, flip it upside down, then you might have this vibrating robot platform-like thing, able to move in any direction (at least on a smooth surface). Imagine - an ultra-cheap holonomic drive (provided you used, say, pager motors, and such to build it).

    I guess I am wondering if it would be possible to build such a platform this way, with say three vibrating motors, set @ 120 degrees apart...?

    I support the EFF - do you?

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    Reason is the Path to God - Anon
    1. Re:Robot Platform? by SlashGeek · · Score: 2
      ....(provided you used, say, pager motors, and such to build it). I guess I am wondering if it would be possible to build such a platform this way, with say three vibrating motors, set @ 120 degrees apart...?

      Well, since you were wondering... The robot platform sound like a really good idea, but I think you are slightly misunderstanding how vibratory motion works. Let me explain this a little. A vibrating motor in say, a pager as you mentioned, uses an eccentric weight spun by a rotory motor to cause a condition of imballence, or wabble, and thus vibration. Vibratory motion equipement uses mostly linear motors and don't exactly "vibrate" but change directions at high speeds, causing the effect of vibration. It relies on basic laws of inertia, like the tablecloth trick. If you place an object on a table, and yank the tablecloth out real fast, the objects inertia will prevent it from moving. Vibratory motion works on the same principal, but think of it like this, the tablecloth is pulled slowly say one inch, and the object moves. Then it is pulled the other way one inch very fast, and the object stays. Then it repeats, over and over. A system like this would probably use at least 2 such motors opposed 90 degrees for direction control, although 3 at 120 would work as well, perhaps be even more accurate, but you would be required to run at least 2 of them at all times, so it might not be as efficient. So it's not exactly a vibration as much as it is a shuffle. You did get me thinking though, and a simple wabble type device would work great for manually moving a heavy object.

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      --I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones that are someone else's fault.

    2. Re:Robot Platform? by cr0sh · · Score: 2

      Well, I just remember a device (described for the DIY'er to build) that was (is?) in the old (from the 50's or 60's) Popular Mechanic's Do-It-Yourself Encyclopedia set. It was a toy that vibrated, and scooted along in one direction. I actually have a toy "mouse" (for your pet cat) that does this when you pull the ring/string thing out it's butt (I am serious here - that is where they positioned it - I guess it is it's tail). The little bugger scoots along the ground, presumably your cat will chase it, and pounce (don't have a cat to try this with, but hey - if they like lasers, they should like this!)...

      Anyhow, I was thinking three of these things - if they were all turned on (all three, space at 120 degrees apart on a circular platform), the platform wouldn't go anywhere, but by varying the speed, you could get diferent motion vectors (sorta like a vibrating holonomic device) - or at least that is the theory...

      I support the EFF - do you?

      --
      Reason is the Path to God - Anon
    3. Re:Robot Platform? by cr0sh · · Score: 2

      I started thinking about what I wrote earlier, and realized that using a motor with an ecentric (to produce the vibration), means that the motor is actually (if left loose, say) vibrating in a "circular" pattern (wobbling in a circle). For my idea to work, you would have to be able to impart the force in a single direction - so I wondered how it was being done in the model I saw. I began to think about it...

      IIRC - the model used a motor, with the shaft extending through the center of a circular thin can (like a chewing tobbacco tin). Attached to the end of the shaft was a "vane" - a thin piece of metal - that extended to the side of the can, but didn't touch it. Inside the can was a loose bearing, then the lid was put on. The tin/motor combo was mounted on it's side.

      Now, when the motor spun the vane, it would push the bearing - throwing the weight forward (and maybe even up and around the side), but at the top, the bearing would fall to the bottom - to continue the cycle as the vane came back around.

      Now, this could be totally wrong (unfortunately I don't have that particular encyclopedia - I only saw it at the library as a kid). The thing that shoots the whole in my memory of the device is that toy mouse I described - it don't rattle, which it should if if had a loose bearing in it. I might open the thing up tonight, and see how it works...

      I support the EFF - do you?

      --
      Reason is the Path to God - Anon
  6. Sounds simular to... by SydBarrett · · Score: 2

    Something I saw in OMNI magazine many years ago that let you move heavy furniture around a room. It didn't use sound. The floor was made from some kind of flexable plastic, and there were a rather complex series of mechanics under it. They would raise and lower in sequence, so the effect was like a lump popping up that pushed something aside a little, and then another lump pops up, etc. I'm guessing that you would need rather smooth objects, or furniture that had wheels on the bottom for this method to work.

  7. Is that an earthquake?! by zlite · · Score: 2

    No, honey. It's just the table setting itself.

  8. uhhh...yeah! by fuzzcat · · Score: 2

    If the porn industry ever caught on to this...oh man!

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    "The further I get from the things that I care about, the less I care about how much further away I get." -Robert Smith
  9. Vibrating Magic Remover by resistant · · Score: 3

    Dan Reznik, a Brazilian computer science Ph.D. candidate at the University of California at Berkeley, has developed a table with a shaking top that moves objects as if by magic -- the only finger lifted is the one on the mouse controlling what objects are moved where.

    Combine this effect with the pressure-sensitive polymer from a few days ago and some control electronics, and you'd have a floor able to react automatically to the presence of a life insurance salesman by wisking him effortlessly back out the door.

    --
    A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
  10. Noise & other questions... by Yardley · · Score: 2

    Since it is using sub-woofer like vibration, will there be a lot of accompanying noise? How heavy of objects can it move? How much damage will the vibrations inflict upon objects which are moved?

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    He lives in a world where those who do not run the client software of the omnipresent meme are unacceptable.
    1. Re:Noise & other questions... by gmm · · Score: 2

      It depends on the frequency. If it is below 20Hz you won't hear it.



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  11. gamers take note by Karmageddon · · Score: 5

    and what if we put on the table 22 little plastic men, 11 each from two opposing football squads... oh yeah.

  12. Noise and creative applications by martyb · · Score: 2

    I've looked over the site, but don't recall seeing any mention of just how LOUD this thing would be. If I understand correctly, he's got 4 LARGE voice coils that are rapidly firing in order to get the objects on the surface to move.

    This reminds me of the old vibrating surface football game my folks got me when I was a kid. It was pretty noisy then. Hey! Imagine putting appropriate markings on this new surface. With a little creative programming (and, say, bluetooth), we could set up football scrimmages where we nerds would always WIN!

  13. The last thing I would need... by Dannon · · Score: 2

    ...would be someone at my school hacking into my floor of my apartment as a prank.

    To roommate: "Can I borrow your computer? Someone blocked my door with my bed again...."

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    Hold the mold, Klunk.

    --
    Good judgment comes from experience.
    Experience comes from bad judgment.
  14. just think about the applications for this! by brad3378 · · Score: 2


    How about a computer chess game that moves it's own pieces?

    Or Just think what UPS/USPS/FedEx could do with this in a warehouse full of packages?

    Mix this technology with that pressure sensitive sensing material, and maybe optical recognition, and it would be able to do damn near anything!

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  15. Neural Net Vibration Control by Baldrson · · Score: 3

    Actually there is an entire field of neural network vibration control that started out as adaptive vibration cancellation. In a 1989 demonstration for the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, SAIC had a demonstration where they placed 1, then 2 then 3 accellerometers at various arbitrary places on a 3D grid structure being stimulated by some vibrators similar to those spoken of in the article here. Then the outputs of those accellerometers were fed as "pain" signals to a recurrent neural network that controlled some other vibrators. When the neural network was turned on, the vibrators under its control would vary frequency, phase and amplitude until vibration was cancelled out at precisely the 3 locations at which the accellerometers were placed. You could then pick the accellerometers up and put them back down somewhere else and the neural network would adapt within a few seconds, cancelling out its painful inputs.

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    Seastead this.
  16. I "see".... by moonboy · · Score: 2

    I "see" bad things ahead for the blind. The mother of all cruel practical jokes. :-P

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    Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
  17. My favorite quote from the article by Nonesuch · · Score: 2
    "You could have this anal-retentive table," Rezniksaid. "If anyone moves the salt shaker, the table would move it back to its position. It would always be perfectly set."
    Coming soon to a Sharper Image near you, the all-new Felix Unger model kitchen table.
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    I do not deploy Linux. Ever.