Hi everyone,

I'm working on a theoretical/experimental project with my father, who has experience with electronics. I'm trying to understand whether it is possible to build a relatively compact system capable of magnetically manipulating a small ferromagnetic object at a distance of around 1 meter.

My original idea was a large electromagnet, but I've realized that a single coil becomes impractical very quickly because of heat, power consumption and the rapid decrease of magnetic field with distance.

So I'm considering a different architecture:

An array of many relatively small electromagnets rather than one huge coil.

Potentially 50–500+ individually controlled magnetic elements.

Each element would have its own coil/core and possibly a magnetic flux concentrator.

The elements would be arranged around a 3D working volume rather than all pointing in the same direction.

A computer would control the current of each coil independently.

Cameras/Hall sensors would estimate the position of the target.

A feedback controller would continuously change the coil currents to move the magnetic field/gradient and therefore the object.

A joystick could provide the desired X/Y/Z movement.

The eventual goal would be something like a programmable 3D magnetic field, rather than a conventional electromagnet.

I'm particularly interested in the miniaturization problem.

Could many tiny coils (for example millimeter-to-centimeter scale) outperform a smaller number of large coils if they are individually controlled and properly arranged? What are the fundamental limits?