Individual and Collective Behavior of Small Vibrating Motors Interacting Through a Resonant Plate

TL;DR

This study investigates how small vibrating motors interact through a resonant plate, revealing hysteresis and synchronization phenomena influenced by plate resonances and history dependence.

Contribution

It provides new experimental insights into the collective dynamics of vibrating motors coupled via a resonant structure, highlighting hysteresis and resonance effects.

Findings

Motors exhibit hysteresis in steady-state frequency due to plate interactions.

Synchronization increases near plate resonances.

Synchronization frequency depends on the system's history.

Abstract

We report on experiments of many small motors -- cell phone vibrators -- glued to and interacting through a resonant plate. We find that individual motors interacting with the plate demonstrate hysteresis in their steady-state frequency due to interactions with plate resonances. For multiple motors running simultaneously, the degree of synchronization between motors increases when the motors' frequencies are near a resonance of the plate, and the frequency at which the motors synchronize shows a history dependence.