New system allows acoustic robots to co-operatively transport objects

While so far robots have predominantly been deployed individually, as teams, they can tackle a wider range of complex missions with remarkable speed and efficiency. For instance, they could help to rapidly transport objects to target locations, moving on varying terrains and perhaps even passing through environments that are difficult for humans to access.

Researchers at University College London (UCL) have recently developed a new system that allows robots to co-operatively transport objects, while leveraging high-frequency sound waves that cannot be heard by humans. This system, outlined in a paper on the arXiv preprint server, is inspired by the collective dynamics of ants and other insects, which are known to carefully coordinate their behavior when carrying pieces of food, debris, or other tiny items back to their nest.

“Cooperative transport, the simultaneous movement of an object by multiple agents, has been widely observed in biological systems such as ant colonies, which improve efficiency and adaptability in dynamic environments,” wrote Narsimlu Kemsaram, Akin Delibasi and their colleagues in their paper. “Inspired by these natural phenomena, we present a novel acoustic robotic system for the transport of contactless objects in mid-air.”

Kemsaram, Delibasi and their colleagues have devised a new system for the cooperative transport of objects by robots, which relies on ultrasonic transducers (i.e., small devices that emit ultrasonic sound waves) and an onboard robotic control system. The small ultrasound-emitting devices produce interference patterns in the air, forming acoustic pressure fields.

These are essentially areas in which the sound pressure is strong enough to trap, levitate and hold small objects in mid-air. The control system, on the other hand, generates these acoustic fields in specific locations, allowing robots to manipulate levitated objects with high levels of precision.

“Our system leverages phased ultrasonic transducers and a robotic control system onboard to generate localized acoustic pressure fields, enabling precise manipulation of airborne particles and robots,” wrote Kemsaram, Delibasi and their colleagues. “We categorize contactless object-transport strategies into independent transport (uncoordinated) and forward-facing cooperative transport (coordinated), drawing parallels with biological systems to optimize efficiency and robustness.”

The researchers devised two distinct object transport strategies: the first prompts robots to work independently, and the second prompts them to coordinate their actions, mimicking the behavior of insects in swarms. They validated their system and tested both strategies in a series of real-world experiments, using prototypes of the acoustic robots they developed.

“The proposed system is experimentally validated by evaluating levitation stability using a microphone in the measurement lab, transport efficiency through a phase-space motion capture system, and clock synchronization accuracy via an oscilloscope,” explained Kemsaram, Delibasi and their colleagues. “The results demonstrate the feasibility of both independent and cooperative airborne object transport.”

In the future, the system could be validated in a wider range of experiments to further assess its potential for tackling real-world problems. It could prove valuable for the efficient handling and transport of materials, as well as for the micro-assembly of various devices and products, and potentially even for some biomedical applications.

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