Posted on 04/26/2015 8:38:14 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The super-strong bots – built by mechanical engineers at Stanford University in California – will be presented next month at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Seattle, Washington.
The secret is in the adhesives on the robots' feet. Their design is inspired by geckos, which have climbing skills that are legendary in the animal kingdom. The adhesives are covered in minute rubber spikes that grip firmly onto the wall as the robot climbs. When pressure is applied, the spikes bend, increasing their surface area and thus their stickiness. When the robot picks its foot back up, the spikes straighten out again and detach easily.
The bots also move in a style that is borrowed from biology. Like an inchworm, one pad scooches the robot forward while the other stays in place to support the heavy load. This helps the robot avoid falls from missing its step and park without using up precious power.
All this adds up to robots with serious power. For example, one 9-gram bot can hoist more than a kilogram as it climbs. In this video it's carrying StickyBot, the Stanford lab's first ever robot gecko, built in 2006.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Yeah, yeah. That’s all good and well. I just want them to be able to remember to put the fries in the bag along with my Big Mac.
Hmmm, Robot Roofers.
More fascinating then an ant carrying a piece of potato chip 20 times his size?
So a 9-gram bot can carry a kilo of C4 into some bunker through an air shaft. Neat.
Yup.
100x up a vertical surface >> 20x across the floor. So yup.
Gosh. One would almost think that those amazing critters they’re imitating had a brilliant Designer or something...
/s
This will revolutionize the roofing industry for sure.
Amazing
Lol. Yup. It only took years of work by some of the most brilliant minds on the planet to duplicate something many would have us believed happened by chance.
Are you sure it wasn't government central planners that built these robots?
98% of the world’s population is just so obsolete.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say. :-)
Yes, but can they make me a sandwich and fetch a beer without nagging?
Why? Aren’t that what robots are for?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.