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Physicists Mimic Sticky Gecko Feet

physicsworld.com — For years scientists have tried — and failed — to engineer materials that would enable robots to mimic the gecko’s ability to scale walls, windows and seemingly any other surface.

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 10, 2008

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  • inactive, on 10/10/2008, -1/+18Proof of Concept:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEPTm8qJeyg
  • sphigel, on 10/10/2008, -0/+11743 Geckos were killed during this research.
  • Fordi, on 10/10/2008, -0/+10Oooo, I just thought of other uses. The transitional forces of a toroidal CVT, for example, would be ideal to make use of it; high adhesion on the power-transfer point, and almost none on the approach and release areas. Friction clutches, and brakes as well; you wouldn't have to worry about wear, and you could over-engineer the ***** out of them.
  • oblique63, on 10/10/2008, -0/+10but at least I saved a ton of money on my car insurance
  • Fordi, on 10/10/2008, -0/+10Hm.

    I could fit a pad on my hands:
    Fingers: 1cm x 6cm (x10)
    Palm: 6cm x 6cm (x2)

    That's a total of 132 sq cm, or 13,200 sq mm.

    At 1.5kg per (4mm x 4mm), that's 1,237.5 kg (2,722.5 lb) that can be held by a pair of 'spiderman' gloves.

    No, it won't help you lift that much - but it'll keep your hands from slipping. It'd be like the best rock-climbing / weight-lifting gloves ever; without extra perpendicular force, it can adhere more than any man can lift.

    I can't tell you how often I've wanted something like this for, say, helping a friend move. No more losing your grip on a heavy dresser, for example.
  • zspade, on 10/10/2008, -1/+10♪Geckopig, Geckopig, does whatever a Geckopig does♫
  • mcphatty, on 10/10/2008, -0/+8i got 504
  • johndatserakis, on 10/10/2008, -6/+14why haven't they just called geico?
  • sirjimithy, on 10/10/2008, -0/+8I wonder if they saved 15% on their robot insurance.
  • peaceninja, on 10/10/2008, -1/+7holy *****, get this out on the market NOW. i want to go scale some buildings
  • oblique63, on 10/10/2008, -0/+6Phase one of project 'Metal Gear: Gecko' is complete...
  • eeclark, on 10/10/2008, -3/+8This ROCKS
    oh and dugg because the team is lead by WANG
  • telepwn, on 10/10/2008, -1/+6now that's what I call a sticky situation
  • PatoLucas, on 10/10/2008, -0/+4Helping a friend move? I was thinking something like a blue and red costume to fight crime
  • steelaman, on 10/10/2008, -0/+4it's only a matter of time before we're being spied on by thousands of tiny geckos
  • Urbanninja622, on 10/10/2008, -0/+3harryh makes a good point that the inside of the "spiderman gloves" would have to be sticky as well if you wanted to climb anything. Assuming you're climbing with your fingers out and palm flat.
  • zspade, on 10/10/2008, -0/+3Which means you use IE, get a better browser man.

    http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/?from=getfire ...
    http://www.opera.com/download/
    http://www.google.com/chrome
  • TheMidnight, on 10/10/2008, -0/+3Wall climbing: so easy a caveman could do it.
  • Amadeus2490, on 10/10/2008, -0/+2Personally, I think it'd be better to see a Metal Gear with a big, red Baboon ass.
  • tyshro, on 10/10/2008, -1/+3also - more coverage and pictures on
    http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?art ...
  • tyshro, on 10/10/2008, -0/+2Gelco?
  • TurnipFarm, on 10/10/2008, -0/+2I find what works best is taking a good number of geckos, say a dozen or so, and gathering them in two hands before crushing them into a sort of pulpy mass. Massage the mass into a roughly spherical shape and then squeeze to drain it of excess fluids. Finally, take the gecko ball and place it on the ground halfway across a string of about 2ft length. Next place one foot on the ball and step down on it using all your weight (ask a friend for help ladies!) to flatten it into a pad shape. Then tie the string over your shoe, securing the pad to your foot. Repeat for the other foot and for the next 4 minutes you should have no problem scaling the embassy!
  • GoatFounDeR, on 10/10/2008, -0/+2Yeah... Sticky Gecko Feet sounds like some kind of fetish
  • drex8, on 10/10/2008, -0/+2I thought your user icon didn't load.
  • stack3r, on 10/10/2008, -1/+2James Cook University in Australia has been working with this sort of stuff for years.
  • RadiatedAnt, on 10/10/2008, -0/+1Imagine the possibilities with future processor architectures!

    Developers.... nah screw it.
  • tehphoberer, on 10/10/2008, -0/+1Or to be this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2TJ3tU8mbo&feature ...
  • 1smartguy, on 10/10/2008, -0/+1For anyone who hasn't seen RiSE from Boston Dynamics, the makers of Big Dog:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEP6WwwpE9Y
  • kingm1k3, on 10/10/2008, -0/+1There was a special about this on the Science channel a week or 2 ago. Pretty interesting.
  • drex8, on 10/10/2008, -0/+1can you hear me now?
  • frsrblch, on 10/10/2008, -0/+1What?
  • walshgopher, on 10/11/2008, -0/+1Dugg for "Dai says he and the team are now planning to optimize the structure and scale it up so that they can make “spiderman” gloves."
  • CLAWC, on 10/11/2008, -0/+1This concept never ceases to amaze me and prove a very valid point:

    If a COPY requires a designer, doesn't the ORIGINAL? You just can't argue with that.
  • BlatheringIdiot, on 10/10/2008, -0/+1That's what she said....
  • Fordi, on 10/11/2008, -0/+1Feh. I was thinking "practical".
  • beesaretasty, on 10/10/2008, -0/+1Damn you beat me to it...
  • carolinaboarder, on 10/10/2008, -0/+1But now we can climb walls, it was totally worth it.
  • oxilite, on 10/10/2008, -0/+0Does anyone know, Is this the way the tires of the dudes car were described in the book Snow Crash? its been so long since I've read that.
  • moneyaffiliate, on 03/10/2009, -0/+0Adjust your exercise to a Weight Lifting for Beginners
    For beginners there is a great method in which they can keep up with how much weight and exercise they are supposed to do, and it is specially important that these people learn about using a weight lifting chart, and if you are about to get into these kind of exercises, then you should give a look to a weight lifting chart, it is an easy and organized way in which you can arrange your exercising schedule and get the best results from each and every one of your work outs.
  • hoisonsauce, on 10/10/2008, -0/+0How about adding a bit to cell phone casings so I don't have to keep dropping my phone on the ground? Or maybe a little bit to toilet paper so I can get those last few clingers...
  • blavin, on 10/11/2008, -0/+0there is a show called "Weird Connections" that airs on "Science Channel" that has one episode that addresses all of the research that has gone into this. It is a new show. Really cool. It is on Tuesdays at 10pm. Check it out!
  • smackydoodle, on 10/10/2008, -0/+0lol excellent link

    I used to live for Sunday morning of pulling out the sticky octopus from the Cookie Crisps
  • keyofnight, on 10/10/2008, -1/+1Fordi, that's awesome!

    I wonder if they could embed them and make them retractable in living organisms. Sounds like a possibility when you start thinking about nano-machines, albeit a far-away possibility.

    Screw spiderpig—it's all about spider dog.
  • thomasJamo, on 10/10/2008, -0/+0That is so cool that I can't even stand it. You know most of these scientist types would first think of some really obscure application for this stuff. These guys' first thought is Spiderman gloves. How cool.

    "Lasers. Eight o'clock. Day one."
  • adun401, on 10/10/2008, -8/+3i wonder if they saved 15% on their ***** commercial insurance

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