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Gecko Inspired Robot Climbs Walls at Stanford
telomerewhythere writes "Stanford mechanical engineer Mark Cutkosky is using the biology of a gecko's sticky foot to create a robot that climbs. In the same way the small reptile can scale a wall of slick glass, the Stickybot can climb smooth surfaces with feet modeled on the intricate design of gecko toes. The team's new project involves scaling up the material for humans. A technology called Z-Man, which would allow humans to climb with gecko adhesive, is in the works."
Awesome!
Just keep in mind that – thanks to the cube/square law and other physical principles – not all biological feats can be scaled up or down.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Apparently /. missed seeing this episode something like 2 years ago, where they tried this as well as another tech for climbing. The gecko foot was very hard to reproduce and didn't have the cling, while feet made of 100's of jointed fish-hooks successfully took a human a few dozen feet up a wall.
Yay for old news...
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not all biological feats can be scaled up or down.
Not all biological feets can be scaled up or down.
How much would it cost to insure something like that?
Can it save you money on auto insurance?
A Stanford mechanical engineer is using the biology of a gecko's sticky foot to create a robot that climbs.
My feet stink too but I can't climb like a gecko.
Rereads sentence.
Oh, wait, never mind.
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
Robots that can climb walls, you don't say? Well, I suppose that makes it easier for them to climb into our bedrooms at night to kill us. It'll make the robot uprising that much quicker.
"the Stickybot can climb smooth surfaces with feet modeled on the intricate design of gecko toes." Uh oh, better not bring design or intelligence in the context of biology. You may start scaring some people.
Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
"Sometimes science is just a matter of making something stick."
The more you know.
I think I heard that the reason why gecko feet stick so well is because of Van de Wall molecular attraction. Could this be enhanced by applying a small electro-static charge?
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Sorry, already been done, sort of: Spider Boy
he's climbing in your windows snatchin yo people up
This story is like a story raving about a one million miles per fillup automobile when the real excitement is in the cold fusion reaction engine under the hood.
No offense but the real story should be "The newest versions of the adhesive, developed in 2009, have a two-layer system, similar to the gecko's lamellae and setae" (presumably NOT developed by the Cutkosky et al).
Not all biological feets can be scaled up or down.
Not all biological feet can be scaled (up or down).
For some reason when I read the title I immediately thought of: http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/Gekko
Also, having seen geckos slip and fall, I wouldn't want to trust this myself.
Does my post repeat the subject?
I'm getting bored to tears by all these "science imitates nature" articles. Since childhood I must have read about the velcro background a hundred times. Will I have to put up with yet another dozen gecko geek articles over the next few years?
The TFA doesn't mention prior efforts. Here's one -- From an April 2009 slashdot:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/09/1927217:
AndreV writes "Biomimetic adhesives aren't new, but a PhD graduate in British Columbia has developed a new method of creating microscopic, mushroom-like plastic structures in order to produce a dry adhesive that mimics the stickiness of gecko feet—and is prepping his glue-free innovation for outer space. A research group at his university, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, is engineering a spider-like, sticky-footed climbing robot destined to explore Mars, and it is also developing reusable attaching systems for astronauts to use where magnetic and suction systems generally fail. In the future, he says, single-use versions could be used in any number of medical applications as well as for replacements for everyday sticky needs, such as Post-It notes and Scotch tape."
The Indian monitor lizard is also known for wedging itself tightly into crevices and holding onto rocks. It was famously used by the Marathas to scale the walls of a fortress during the battle of Sinhagad by tying a rope to its tail and releasing it to climb the wall.
"..One hosts to look them up, one DNS to find them, and in the darkness BIND them."
I took the post to be an humourous remark.
Why can't we let people believe whatever they like? It's not like a little religion has ever hurt anyone.
Does this mean blazing foxes can now climb glass surfaces?
From TFA: "Cutkosky has collaborated with scientists from [...] a robot-building company called Boston Dynamics."
http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_rise.html
You'd think science would have nature completely imitated by now.
I'm surrounded by the little fellas (geckos). Ubiquitous in the tropics. Long wanted to be able to climb like them. Thinking this won't be my chance.
Khao Yai Land
not all biological feats can be scaled up or down.
Not all biological feets can be scaled up or down.
Not all biological feet can be scaled (up or down).
Evolution, its everywhere.
Yeah, both of these are nice!
Did you see this - http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1769820&cid=33406858
IOW, /. ad infinitum :)
"feet modeled on the intricate design of gecko toes"
Interesting. I thought they evolved. ;-)
Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
Sounds cool, but I'll hold out for the Webkit Inspired Robot
Covered here before, http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/06/05/23/2146232/Robo-Gecko-Climbs-Glass
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