Vibration-Induced Frictional Force Fields on a Rigid Plate

By vibrating a rigid plate with up to six degrees of freedom, we can create a large family of programmable frictional force fields acting on parts resting on the plate. These fields can be used for sensorless part orientation, uncertainty-reducing transport, and simultaneous manipulation of multiple parts. The principle is demonstrated by a plate rotating about an axis below the plate. Simple oscillatory rotation produces a squeeze field that attracts and aligns parts along a center line. This behavior is confirmed in experiment. Motivated by this experimental confirmation, we use a simulation to find plate motions that yield a number of other useful primitive force fields. By sequencing these force fields, we can create any force field that is a convex combination of the primitives.