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arXiv · 2511.02761

Non-Contact Manipulation of Induced Magnetic Dipoles

Seth Stewart·Joseph Pawelski·Steve Ward·Andrew J. Petruska
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Abstract

Extending the field of magnetic manipulation to conductive, non-magnetic objects opens the door for a wide array of applications previously limited to hard or soft magnetic materials. Of particular interest is the recycling of space debris through the use of oscillating magnetic fields, which represent a cache of raw materials in an environment particularly suited to the low forces generated from inductive magnetic manipulation. Building upon previous work that demonstrated 3D open-loop position control by leveraging the opposing dipole moment created from induced eddy currents, this work demonstrates closed-loop position control of a semi-buoyant aluminum sphere in lab tests, and the efficacy of varying methods for force inversion is explored. The closed-loop methods represent a critical first step towards wider applications for 3-DOF position control of induced magnetic dipoles.

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Seth Stewart, Joseph Pawelski, Steve Ward, Andrew J. Petruska. 2025-11-04. Non-Contact Manipulation of Induced Magnetic Dipoles. https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.02761

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