Gecko Robot Gives Spiderman Some Tough Competition
Climbing walls comes easy to our friendly neighborhood Spidy but a new climbing robot is all set to conquer the lone terrain of Spiderman with gusto.
This climbing robot that comes with sticky feet and is fittingly called Stickybot III, is developed by a team of researchers at Stanford University, with professor Mark Cutkosky at the helm of the project.
For clinging to any surface, the Stickybot III uses its special feet. The feet draw inspiration from a gecko and have tiny hairs on them, which are almost 5 times smaller than that of human hair. The robot also has a long tail that reduces the weight load on each of its sticky foot, making the climb easier.
If you are interested to know the driving principle of the robotic climb, it’s van der Waals force that lets a gecko to hang and support its entire weight on one toe, when it places the other toe on the glass or pulls it back. Cutkosky said that the robot toes can be called a one-way adhesive, which stick only when the pull is in one direction. So, let’s watch how this Stickybot III fares in various climbing jobs.
For some other innovative gadget designs, check out the new age bicycle named Eco and the Seabreacher.
Stanford and BDML Via: Robot Living
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