New systems allow acoustic robots to transport objects cooperatively

So far, robots have been deployed primarily as teams individually, but with incredible speed and efficiency, they can tackle a wider range of complex missions. For example, they can help quickly transport objects to target locations, travel across different terrains, and perhaps even go 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 cooperatively transport objects, leveraging high-frequency sound waves that humans cannot hear. The system, outlined in the Arxiv Preprint Server paper, is inspired by the collective dynamics of ants and other insects. These are known to carefully adjust their behavior when bringing food, debris, or other small items back to the nest.

“Cooperative transport, the simultaneous movement of objects by multiple agents, has been widely observed in biological systems such as ANT colonies, which improve efficiency and adaptability in dynamic environments.” “Inspired by these natural phenomena, we present a new acoustic robotic system for transporting contactless objects in the air.”

Kemsaram, Delibasi, and colleagues have devised a new system for the coordinated transport of objects by robots that rely on ultrasound transducers (i.e., small devices that emit ultrasound waves) and onboard robotic control systems. Small ultrasound emitting devices generate interference patterns in the air and form an acoustic pressure field.

These are essentially areas where sound pressure is sufficient to trap, float and hold small objects in the air. Control systems, on the other hand, generate these acoustic fields at specific locations, allowing the robot to manipulate the raised objects with high levels of accuracy.

“Our systems utilize step-by-step ultrasonic transducers and onboard robotic control systems to generate local acoustic magnetic fields, allowing for accurate operation of aerial particles and robots,” writes Kemalam, Delivery, and colleagues. “We classify contactless object transport strategies into independent transport (uncoordinated) and forward-looking cooperative transport (coordinated) to optimize efficiency and robustness in analogy to biological systems.”

The researchers have devised two different object transport strategies. The first object transport strategy encourages the robot to act independently, while the second encourages them to mimic the behavior of herd insects and adjust their behavior. They validated the system and tested both strategies in a series of real-world experiments using prototypes of the acoustic robot they developed.

“The proposed system will be verified experimentally by assessing foveation stability using a measurement lab microphone and assessing transport efficiency through a topological spatial motion capture system and clock synchronization accuracy through an oscilloscope,” explained Chemsalam, Delivery and colleagues. “The results demonstrate the feasibility of both independent air transport and cooperative transport.”

In the future, systems can be examined with a wider range of experiments to further assess the possibility of tackling real problems. It may prove valuable for efficient handling and transport of materials, microassembly of various devices and products, and microassembly of some biomedical applications.

©2025 Science X Network