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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."
Never mind the military uses, how about using them for construction purposes?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Why not have have the robots bitten by a genetically engineered spider?
Fight Spammers!
Cool, so they managed to synthesize how a gecko sticks to surfaces...
Question: Can this technology be applied to tires? Having more grip with less surface area contact would be a major improvement.
Life is not for the lazy.
Of people who's job can be replaced by a robot.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
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;
Sorry, I'll shut up now...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I for one, Welcome out new electro-stick spybot war machine overlords. ...jokes yet?
Pretty cool, but frightening.
The World's Worst Webcomic!
The article mentions that electroadhesion doesn't work well on damp surfaces. All you need to defend against these robots is a bucket of water.
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.
... now we'll have robots lording over us from random vertical surfaces?
I, for one, am not sure I welcome the idea.
yes, we have no bananas
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!
Superhero uniform check-list:
1 - Full-body/form fitting unitard: check
1 - Ski Mask to hide my secret identity: check
1 - No shame what-so-ever: check
6 - Electroadhesive robotic thingys for hands, knees, and feet: working on that
Odd coincidence. Just a week again I read "The Accident" by Stanislaw Lem which is about trying to track down a robot that has gone missing and has unexpectedly done a bit of rock climbing in it's spare time.
Just like the obviously outrageous "this will eradicate cancer !" claims that you see each time some bio-medical research lab publishes some obscure discovery.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Here's the print version for those who don't want to scroll constantly because of the massive ad-walls.
Really, I don't mind ads, but use them tastefully.
I just read Slashdot for the articles.
Screw military applications - this means my roomba might be able to handle the stairs soon!
:)
Exciting times
It's true lots of great technologies have come out of military research, but it seems a very inefficient way of coming up with new stuff. If the US is going to have such a statist economy, wouldn't it be better to use all those billions on research that is not for world domination?