Vibrating conveyor moves objects without a belt

Here’s a neat contraption: a vibrating conveyor that can move objects up a ramp without using a belt. I’m guessing that they employ some sort of slip-stick motion, which uses the difference between static and sliding friction to move an object along a surface. I’m not entirely sure what the advantage is over a regular conveyer (besides being cool), however a quick search shows that they can at least be used to sort materials of different sizes.

BrantH of the Milwaukee Makerspace is thinking about making one; anyone else play around with these? [via milwaukeemakerspace]