Leaving on a plane jet

This is a continuation of our research on the Universal Planar Manipulator (UPM), a device capable of manipulating multiple generic objects (cans, chess pieces, poker chips, tools, etc.) with a single horizontally-vibrating, rigid plate (3 dofs). Objects are propelled by sliding frictional forces developed against the vibrating plate. A special plate vibration creates an average force field called the “jet” which is local, i.e., it is only non-zero near its center. By applying jets at different objects’ locations in some succession, objects can be made to displace a small amount individually, enabling full parallel manipulation. In particular, a single object can leave on a plane jet, if the jet’s center is made to track, and its direction made aligned with that object’s motion. In this paper we provide visualization of the jet with respect to changes in its center, orientation, and focus parameters. Described also are two experiments showing the UPM as a tangible-user interface (docking a beer can to the user’s hand) and as a chess player (executing moves of an endgame).