DailyDirt: Watch Out! Here Comes The Spider-Man...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Comic book superheroes have all kinds of incredible abilities. There are a few wall-crawling heroes, but the wall-climbing ability of a "Gecko Man" hasn't really captured as many fans as Spider-Man has. A bite from a radioactive spider might not be the most realistic way to obtain the power to climb walls with ease, but science also suggests that there needs to be a bit more than "spider" or "gecko" power for a person to crawl up a wall. Look on the wall! It's Velcro Man? Vacuum-Assisted Man?

• Gecko feet rely on van der Waals forces to stick to surfaces so that they can climb smooth vertical walls. However, these forces are too weak to support animals much bigger than geckos without comically large feet. Spiders and insects are small enough to take advantage of the gecko effect, but humans would need a size 114 shoe (or about 80% of the front side of our body area) to climb up a wall. [url]
• Some engineers who really wanted to build something to climb walls made a vacuum-powered contraption to scale a wall like a spider-man. It's not exactly a stealthy way to move up a wall, but if you don't mind sounding like a leaf blower.... [url]
• You can also just rent a velcro wall (and wear a velcro suit) if you just want to "stick" to a wall. You might remember David Letterman stuck to a wall of industrial-strength velcro -- but he couldn't really move up or down the wall on his own. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: david letterman, gecko, materials, spiders, superheroes, van der waals forces, velcro, wall-crawling

DailyDirt: Wall-Climbing Robots (aka Toys)

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Toys have really become much more advanced than the yo-yos and etch-a-sketches of the past. Sure, kids will always like to play with the big cardboard boxes instead of the toys that came in them, but older kids have amazing remote-controlled drones and paper planes (that they might need to register with the FAA someday). If you've been looking for some cool RC cars that can climb walls and drive on the ceiling, there are a bunch of toys to choose from.

• Disney Research has a wall-climbing robot car called the VertiGo. This looks like a cool prototype for a toy -- and maybe someday there will be a Star Wars droid that rolls on ceilings and walls a bit better than BB-8 can. [url]
• If a small robot car can drive around on the ceiling and walls, it's usually done with vacuum suction or propellers to get the tiny vehicle to defy gravity. Researchers have a solution that doesn't sound like a tiny vacuum cleaner or helicopter -- using gecko-like materials that are electrically activated. Electroadhesion probably won't be available on kids' toys in the near future, but it would be a much better toy for kids to play with quietly. [url]
• Takara Tomy already makes a remote-controlled car with tiny helicopter propellers that can fly... and maneuver on water. Okay, it probably doesn't do too well on ceilings or walls, but it looks cooler than some other wall/ceiling-driving RC toy cars. [url]

If you've been thinking about learning how to code, take a look at our Daily Deals for a collection of online courses to help you program and/or master some professional skills.

Filed Under: bb-8, drones, gecko, materials, prototype, rc cars, robots, toys, vertigo
Companies: disney research, takara tomy