Mould’s trajectory
Steve Mould’s video shows a playing card fitted with a small vibrating motor remaining suspended against gravity without adhesive or suction cups attached to the ceiling. Although this effect resembles Bernoulli adhesion, it does not rely on the same constant pressure drop; a very small gap forms between the card and the hard surface. When the flexible material vibrates along with the motor, standing waves turn into traveling waves when pressed against the surface, pushing the air out of the gap and lowering the pressure.
Next steps
This creates a suction effect without contact with the surface. The object needs to be flexible enough to vibrate. The method could be used to transport delicate components such as silicone sheets without contaminating them.
Vibration Adhesion timeline
In the setup with a 400-watt transducer shown in the video, it was not possible to exceed several dozen kilograms; it could not support a person’s weight. This may be because the ceiling was not sufficiently rigid and because of energy loss. In 2025, Siquan Li and colleagues proposed the Micro-Vibration Adhesion (VBA) system, intended to enable small robots to climb walls; its adhesion-to-weight ratio exceeded 51.