Using a virtual pendulum and its real-world counterpart, scientists at the University of Illinois have created the first mixed reality state in a physical system. Through bidirectional instantaneous coupling, each pendulum ‘sensed’ the other, their motions became correlated, and the two began swinging as one. ‘In a mixed reality state there is no clear boundary between the real system and the virtual system,’ said U. of I. physicist Alfred Hubler. ‘The line blurs between what’s real and what isn’t.’ In the experiment, Hubler and graduate student Vadas Gintautas connected a mechanical pendulum to a virtual one that moved under time-tested equations of motion. The researchers sent data about the real pendulum to the virtual one, and sent information about the virtual pendulum to a motor that influenced motion of the real pendulum. When the lengths of the two pendulums were dissimilar, they remained in a dual reality state of uncorrelated motion and both soon came to rest. When the lengths of the pendulums were similar, however, they ‘suddenly noticed each other, synchronized their motions, and danced together indefinitely,’ said Hubler, who also is affiliated with the U. of I. Center for Complex Systems Research. In […]