“The smallest video game in the world:” Nanoscale Virtual Ship moves real objects

Japanese scientists have created the smallest video game in the world. With a regular controller, players can control a tiny digital ship and fire nanoscale balls to press a physical polystyrene ball only a few micrometers wide.

Augmented Reality (AR) is this type of technology in which virtual objects and characters are overlaid in the real world. The most famous example would be Pokémon goAnd Apple even set a massive bet with the Vision Pro Headset in 2023.

This new game created by scientists at Nagoya University in Japan could probably be called AR. The spaceship and the balls that fire are virtual and overlap this microscopic scene, the goals are practical polystyrene balls. It is like the Pikachu, which they tried to catch, could physically rustle the bushes in their garden.

The way it works is pretty smart. The player's controller actually moves an electron beam under the play area-a silicon nitrogen substrate. This creates the triangular pattern, which represents the ship that looks like that from Arcade Classic Asteroid. While the player controls his ship with the controller, the electron beam moves to maintain the illusion. The “balls” fired by the ship function in a similar way to the nano standards the point patterns are generated when the player presses another button.

How do these virtual objects move physical balls? The electron rays create dynamic patterns of electrical fields that push the balls around through electrostatic interactions. The end result can be seen below – but be warned, it is probably not quite as exciting as you have imagined.

Okay, these nanoscaly games will not be the next Nintendo killer, but that's not really the goal. The team was looking for more looking for a committed way to demonstrate its new technology for moving tiny objects without physically touching them. It could be used to put together biomolecules or nanoma machines or even to lead medication to viruses and bacteria in living organisms.

Research was published in the Japanese Journal of Applied Physics.

Source: Nagoya University via Phys.org