Scientists and engineers at Stanford’s Center for Research and Design have been building climbing robots for five years. Their latest robot, named Stickybot III, was inspired by the gecko and can climb any vertical surface, including glass. In order for the robot to be able to climb surfaces like glass, the scientists had to mimic a gecko’s toe. A gecko’s toe contains ridges called lamellae, with hairs on the ridges called setae. On the tips of the setae are even smaller strands called spatulae, the molecules in the spatulae are attracted to the molecules in the surface because of the van der Waal’s force. The robots mimics the gecko’s foot with a two layered structure with adhesive rubber and tiny hairs like the setae. The scientists involved in building the robot hope to use the idea used in Stickybot’s feet to create human sized pads that will allow a person to walk up walls.
The dry adhesive that the robot uses is very strong yet easy to remove. It is reusable and leaves no residue or damage. Robots that use this new adhesive could be useful in getting to dangerous, hard to reach places.
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