New levels in computing power has allowed scientists at the University of Illinois to correlate the motion of a physical and a virtual pendulum perfectly in real time. By having data sent from the physical to the virtual pendulum and back via a motor to the physical pendulum, the system behaves as a mixed reality where it is no longer possible to tell which pendulum influences the other. As physicist Alfred Hubler from the experiment explains,”The line blurs between what’s real and what isn’t”.

By being able to retrieve, simulate and act real-time on physical data, the scientists are actually able to make the real pendulum swing as if it was frictionless because it is always correlated with a simulated, frictionless one.While this has no obvious use, other than coolness, the technology can bring incredible advanced in roboting and automation. Think of a car hooked up to a perfect-driving-simulation and correlated in real-time, an industrial robot arm corrected on the fly by comparing the motion to a simulation or the electronic shadow, following your tinyest move…

The press release from University of Illinois.