Japan’s AMOEBA wave pool ‘prints’ shapes on water

Behold the AMOEBA (Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin), a Japanese wave pool that ‘prints’ custom shapes on the water’s surface. This clip from a Japanese television show demonstrates a few shapes, including a heart and a star. From Pink Tentacle in 2006:

The wave generators move up and down in controlled motions to simultaneously produce a number of cylindrical waves that act as pixels. The pixels, which measure 10 cm in diameter and 4 cm in height, are combined to form lines and shapes. The device is capable of spelling out the entire roman alphabet, as well as some simple kanji characters. Each letter or picture remains on the water surface only for a moment, but they can be produced in succession on the surface every 3 seconds.

Watch the video above to see the AMOEBA wave pool in action.

Watch these videos next: Demo of the FloWave Ocean Simulator, the SUSTAIN Lab’s Hurricane in a Box, and The Infinite Now, a series of oceanscape cinemagraphs, how to build your own Wave Machine physics demo.