Tractor beams, seen in popular science-fiction movies such as Star Wars and Star Trek, are now a reality, thanks to a research at University of Dundee!

Tractor beams are usually seen in sci-fi movies where objects or people are pulled towards an energy source or an alien spacecraft.

The scientists pulled an object towards an energy source by exerting force on it, BBC reported. The key difference was that researchers used sound instead of light.

Most research on the 'attractor beam" technology had focussed on attracting objects using light. NASA is working on a technology that could allow them to reel in objects. Similarly, Australian researchers have used lasers to move small objects.

Dr Christine Demore, of the Institute for Medical Science and Technology (IMSAT) at Dundee said that their working acoustic tractor beam can move objects that are larger than microscopic targets.

"We were able to show that you could exert sufficient force on an object around one centimetre in size to hold or move it, by directing twin beams of energy from the ultrasound array towards the back of the object," Demore added in a news release.

Researchers at Dundee worked with scientists from Southampton and Illinois to make the sci-fi idea a reality. The team had previously created another science-fiction technology - Dr Who's sonic screwdriver.

For the study, scientists used ultrasound device which is already used in MRI-guided untrasound surgery, according to a news release. The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. The research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under a £3.6million (around six million USD) 'Electronic Sonotweezers: Particle Manipulation with Ultrasonic Arrays' programme.

The tractor beam technology could be used to advance ultra-sound surgeries, researchers said.