El Reg reports
A graduate student at Stanford has successfully climbed a 3.7-metre glass wall using a pair of super-sticky gloves modeled on the feet of gecko lizards.
Youtube Video
The kit was developed at the California university with funding from [DARPA's Z-Man program]. The gloves are covered with 24 little sticky pads--a total area of 140sq.cm--to distribute the load, and are connected to foot rests. It manages to support the entire weight of a 70kg (11 stone; 154 pound) student.
[...]The pads are made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and are designed as slanted microwedges roughly 100 micrometers tall that mimic a gecko's ability to harness van der Waals forces--the sum of the attraction or repulsion forces between a material's molecules--to climb almost any surface.
By using lots of small panels instead of one big one, the researchers were able to get maximum grip strength from the minimum surface area of the gloves.
(Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Monday November 24 2014, @06:52PM
Nice video and interesting concept. Hope to see it mass produced soon ... people can then comment "What could possibly go wrong ?"
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday November 24 2014, @07:00PM
people can then comment "What could possibly go wrong ?"
How do geckos handle dirt, other than being built to survive falls?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday November 24 2014, @07:19PM
Evolution took care of the geckos who went for "maximum grip strength from the minimum surface area".
The current ones have redundancy and over-design.
(Score: 4, Funny) by iwoloschin on Monday November 24 2014, @07:49PM
Oh, I thought they all just get free insurance?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 24 2014, @07:59PM
No, but they can save up to 10% or more on it.
Also oblig. https://xkcd.com/870/ [xkcd.com]
(Score: 2) by ticho on Monday November 24 2014, @08:32PM
(Score: 3, Funny) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday November 25 2014, @07:32AM
Better to have removable gloves than remain forever French. ;P
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @12:46PM
It's okay to put meters on the front page instead of feet. Americans can easily do the math, or at least the ones who visit this page. There is even the chance we might already have a feel for how long a meters is.