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Boy Builds Wall-Climbing Machine Using Recycled Vacuums

Posted by samzenpus on from the hello-true-believers dept.

Joe McIntosh writes "Hibiki Kono just might be a boy genius. The 13-year-old decided he wanted to climb vertical surfaces like his hero, Spiderman. So, he used two 1,400-watt recycled vacuum cleaners and a little bit of elbow grease to make a machine that allows him to scale walls. Kono has been scaling the walls of his UK school and has told the media that he hopes his invention will help window washers eliminate clumsy ladders from their daily routine."

12 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Mother by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    and mother likes it because it cleans the wall on the way up.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Mother by pilgrim23 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ha! and to think, Harry Potter just used a Broom!

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      - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
  2. Oh no he didn't! by ak_hepcat · · Score: 3, Funny

    Because didn't Adam fall down a lot on his during the Mythbusters attempt?

    --
    Support FSF: Stop thinking with your wallet, and think with your imagination. (cc/non-commercial)
    1. Re:Oh no he didn't! by BagOBones · · Score: 3, Interesting

      http://mythbustersresults.com/episode54

      A suction cup system can be used to scale a (23-story) skyscraper.

      plausible

      The concept worked but Adam did not have the stamina to scale the entire building. Making the climb would require significant physical training.

      --
      EA David Gardner -"... but the consumers have proven that actually what they want is fun."
    2. Re:Oh no he didn't! by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think the interesting thing with this idea are the foot straps. Lets you use leg power for most of your lifting. The Mythbuster's solution needed much more upper body strength, and so was much more strenuous. Time for a Myth revisit?

    3. Re:Oh no he didn't! by socz · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Man, I love climbing rock walls (the fake ones). So much fun!

      But like my sig says....

      The question isn't "can you?" But rather "why would you want to?" So much power and effort when much easier and more importantly, simpler systems have been developed. But that's not to say it might not have an application some day right? Say like, having to venture outside of the international space station a`la R2D2 to fix a power coupling or something. Just saying!

      --
      My abilities are only limited by my imagination
    4. Re:Oh no he didn't! by Arthur+Grumbine · · Score: 4, Funny

      But that's not to say it might not have an application some day right? Say like, having to venture outside of the international space station a`la R2D2 to fix a power coupling or something. Just saying!

      I'm no physicist, but I'm guessing that a vacuum suction system in space will be about as effective as a ShamWow at the bottom of the ocean.

      --
      Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
    5. Re:Oh no he didn't! by Sethumme · · Score: 3, Informative

      13-year-olds inventing things just for sheer awesomeness is always great, but this 13-year-old didn't invent anything. He just used the Bang Goes the Theory design.

  3. No more ladders? by Ossifer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You'll love those "clumsy" ladders when someone trips on your power cord...

  4. Goodf Idea by camperdave · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Window washers rejoice! You can now use a piece of technology susceptible to power failure, surges, blown fuses, and seized motors, instead of the centuries old, proven technology that you've been using for years. Imagine how much safer you'll be clinging to a wall by a noisy machine rather than a clumsy ladder.

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    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  5. Impressive? Sure, but it's a rip-off... by Anaerin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This again? The kid is doing nothing more than ripping off the BBC TV show "Bang Goes the Theory", that did this last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1qoINo2MPM

    1. Re:Impressive? Sure, but it's a rip-off... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Some impressive engineering nous for a kid? Sure.

      A kid building a wall-climbing machine out of spare vacuum cleaner parts? It reminds me of something you'd read in a Cory Doctorow novel.

      Kids are great. They give me hope. My kid just got a job as a research assistant in a genetics lab at her university, and though she's working like a slave for next to nothing, the experience has lit her up like a neon sign. Every night I get to hear about stuff about which I understand very little, but her excitement is just ambrosia for this proud papa. I usually only get about five minutes of thrilling reportage before she dashes out, probably to some hormone-fueled assignation with a pierced and pimply male, but knowing that her intellect, her future, her life is just exploding with the new sustains me.

      That, and the fantasy of gelding the grabby boy who dares lay an insincere hand on her.

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      You are welcome on my lawn.