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Can levitating appliances take of

Ger Jansen is puzzling about how to ft a windshield. His problem is not ins

talling it in a car, but hanging the glass in thin air and keeping it hovering o

r a prolonged display.

This is a airly typical challenge or the utch engineer, who along with his d

aughter !ngela runs "realev, a leading levitation design frm. The mysteriou

s art o #oating has been largely confned to ultra$specialist industry applicat

ions and magician tricks, but the Jansens have developed a repertoire or an

y occasion% rom liting a model&s top hat or a ashion shoot to a giant rock i

n a striking art display. They have given sneakers air or 'ike, and produced

a range o sel$suspending lamps or the home.

These are all given #ight by patented modules that induce magnetic levitatio

n. The kit is comprised o two parts( a magnetic disc that can be integrated i

nto the chosen ob)ect, and a base containing sensors that pin it in space. Thelatest and most heavy$duty module can support up to *+ kilograms to a heig

ht o nine centimeters, but bespoke services are available or unlimited heig

ht and weight

-ur customers drive us by reuesting more demanding solutions, says J

ansen. /or the higher and heavier loads we have to combine the largest levi

tation modules.

The company is also developing programming to make the magnets smarter,

more responsive and capable o more sophisticated movement.

0eople don&t want something to )ust #oat but also to interact with it. 1hat s

hould happen then is that sensors around the ob)ect move depending on the

movement o people, so the ob)ect is more intelligent

Jansen is #ooded with reuests to make every conceivable item levitate. -

ne popular option or illusionists and thrill$seekers is to make a human #oat,

which he is pursuing with some reservations.

2ou could have magnets inserted into clothes but it would not eel like resti

ng on the clouds ... 3 you have these magnets working together it&s a giant

orce. 3t can hurt the skin. There need to be saety precautions.

The "hairless "hair, an invisible chair that you can wear

The Jansens are not alone as there is a growing market o levitating applicati

ons or consumers. ! "aliornian company has released a set o #oating spea

kers, promising a uniue e4perience or the listener. "zech designers have p

roduced a computer mouse buoyed by magnetic levitation, designed to allevi

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ate carpal tunnel syndrome.

5ut the limiting actor o magnetic levitation is reuiring a base to #oat over,

e6ectively reuiring that ob)ects are stationary. This largely puts paid to the

hoverboard dream inspired by 5ack to the /uture $$ another o the Jansens&

most common reuests $$ and e4plains why transport seems the best placed industry to make use o the techniue

!nother levitation breakthrough has come at the micro level, and by a di6

erent method. This year, Japanese scientists used acoustic levitation to mani

pulate small ob)ects with three$dimensional capability or the frst time. 7ese

archers created a moveable ultrasonic ocal point that allowed them unpre

cedented control with sound waves.

84perts hailed the potential impact or molecular analysis or chemistry and

medicine, but lead researcher 2oichi -chiai o the 9niversity o Tokyo also o

resees wider applications( 3 would like to draw huge levitated graphics in stadiums or concerts, he said. -r or use in our daily lives such as #oating in

teractions at home and small ob)ect levitation.

3n many cases, levitation technologies have yet to fnd meaningul unctions,

either serving novelty purposes or yet to break out o the research stage. 5u

t the possibilities are multiplying, and the applications are becoming establis

hed in felds such as entertainment and transport.

3 the spread continues, magicians may need to learn some new trickstwitte

r: https(;;twitter.com;2