Kemsaram, Narsimlu;
Hardwick, James;
Wang, Jincheng;
Gautam, Bonot;
Besevli, Ceylan;
Christopoulos, Giorgos;
Dogra, Sourabh;
... Subramanian, Sriram; + view all
(2025)
AcoustoBots: A Swarm of Robots for Acoustophoretic Multimodal Interactions.
Frontiers in Robotics and AI
, 12
, Article 1537101. 10.3389/frobt.2025.1537101.
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Abstract
Acoustophoresis has enabled novel interaction capabilities, such as levitation, volumetric displays, mid-air haptic feedback, and directional sound generation, to open new forms of multimodal interactions. However, its traditional implementation as a singular static unit limits its dynamic range and application versatility. This paper introduces "AcoustoBots" -a novel convergence of acoustophoresis with a movable and reconfigurable phased array of transducers for enhanced application versatility. We mount a phased array of transducers on a swarm of robots to harness the benefits of multiple mobile acoustophoretic units. This offers a more flexible and interactive platform that enables a swarm of acoustophoretic multimodal interactions. Our novel AcoustoBots design includes a hinge actuation system that controls the orientation of the mounted phased array of transducers to achieve high flexibility in a swarm of acoustophoretic multimodal interactions. In addition, we designed a BeadDispenserBot that can deliver particles to trapping locations, which automates the acoustic levitation interaction. These attributes allow AcoustoBots to independently work for a common cause and interchange between modalities, allowing for novel augmentations (e.g., a swarm of haptics, audio, and levitation) and bilateral interactions with users in an expanded interaction area. We detail our design considerations, challenges, and methodological approach to extend acoustophoretic central control in distributed settings. This work demonstrates a scalable acoustic control framework with two mobile robots, laying the groundwork for future deployment in larger robotic swarms. Finally, we characterize the performance of our AcoustoBots and explore the potential interactive scenarios they can enable.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | AcoustoBots: A Swarm of Robots for Acoustophoretic Multimodal Interactions |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/frobt.2025.1537101 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2025.1537101 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright: © 2025 Kemsaram, Hardwick, Wang, Gautam, Besevli, Christopoulos, Dogra, Gao, Delibasi, Martinez Plasencia, Georgiou, Obrist, Hirayama and Subramanian. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Keywords: | AcoustoBots, BeadDispenserBot, Hinge Actuation System, MuliModal Interactions, Swarm of Haptics Interactions, Swarm of Audio Interactions, Swarm of Levitation Interactions, Swarm of Robots Frontiers |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10208015 |
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