Scientists harness the wind as a tool to move objects

Researchers have developed a technique to move objects around with a jet of wind. The new approach makes it possible to manipulate objects at a distance and could be integrated into robots to give machines ethereal fingers.

The research is published in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems.

"Airflow or wind is everywhere in our living environment, moving around objects like pollen, pathogens, droplets, seeds and leaves. Wind has also been actively used in industry and in our everyday lives—for example, in leaf blowers to clean leaves. But so far, we can't control the direction the leaves move—we can only blow them together into a pile," says Professor Quan Zhou from Aalto University, who ...