AcoustoFab: Contactless fabrication using acoustophoresis

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Our team at UCL has developed a technology called acoustophoretic multimaterial contactless manufacturing (AMCM) to address several problems that plague many current fabrication technologies, such as contamination and unsafe handling of reagents, chemicals, biomaterials, food, and medicine. For example, industries and labs often face difficulties in handling small amounts of hazardous chemicals or in preventing contamination of food and medicine. AMCM allows for the contactless manipulation and fabrication of multiple objects (both solid and liquid) simultaneously in 3D space, using sound manipulating technologies such as transducer arrays and metamaterials. This technology has applications in contactless pick and place, cleaning, and 3D printing, and it enables the trapping of objects in 3D space, providing control over their mobility and speed. We envision that AMCM has the potential to be a world-leading technology in the field of contactless manipulation and fabrication, and we are proposing the use of AMCM in a system called AcoustoFab Systems, which could potentially become as ubiquitous as 3D printers.