Stanford's Stickybot wall-climbing robot lizard

We thought MIT's slime-climbing robo-snail was pretty, er, slick, but we have to admit that our new fave wall-climber has got to be Standord's Stickybot. The robot gecko has feet coated with a polymer designed to mimic the properties of setae, the tiny hairs on gecko feet that enable the lizards to climb walls. That allows the bot to clamber freely without the surface in question having to be doused with slime, as required by MIT's bot. Not surprisingly, the Pentagon is already interested in adapting the tech for military use in gloves and boots for soldiers. We can only hope this trickles down to civilian uses fast; we're so ready to connect with our inner Spidey as we climb the walls in our gecko gloves.

[Via I4U]

[Gil @ May 24th 2006 9:56AM]

Standord's.

[armelo @ May 24th 2006 10:06AM]

Give it a little AI to snatch some flys and mosquitos and I definitely want one of these. Just dont make it so smart that it hides whenever someone walks into the room or turns on the light.

[dan @ May 24th 2006 10:15AM]

I, for one, welcome our new sticky, wall-climbing robot overlords.

[YourTechSupport @ May 24th 2006 10:22AM]

That's cool. That really is cool. Robots that can climb walls, plant bugs, and/or be thrown from their larger assault mech bretheren when the robot endgame comes.

[Brian from Texas @ May 24th 2006 10:52AM]

@#2 and more so to #3, this idea might become reality. Huge Mechanized warriors, throwing out wall-climbing "offspring" with infinitely scalable wireless connectivity. Machine guns blazing, and rockets exploding. Time to visit Walmart and stock up on more supplies.

[PodMonkeys @ May 24th 2006 11:11AM]

That is so completely awesome!

[n.p. @ May 24th 2006 12:26PM]

this goes against all principles of free style climbing. :(

[Leif @ May 24th 2006 2:03PM]

"Not surprisingly, the Pentagon is already interested in adapting the tech for military use in gloves and boots for soldiers"

Everyone seems to know quite clearly about the interests of the Pentagon. I wonder what kind of Pentagon Interest Beacon all the news sites use.

[Miss Pistola @ May 25th 2006 10:30AM]

"I, for one, welcome our new sticky, wall-climbing robot overlords."

HAHAHAHH! I get it! You changed the Simpsons quote and made it reflect the context of the article! This is original stuff! You are a clever beaver! Two thumbs up, brah!!! I laughed so hard I just stained my paints! OMFG ROFLTIME!!!

[Stewie @ May 25th 2006 11:58AM]

HAHAHAHH! I get it! You changed the Family Guy quote and made it reflect the context of your insult.

[David Erickson @ May 26th 2006 8:44AM]

I've posted the video of the Stickybot climbing a wall at http://www.videolicio.us/2006/05/robotic_lizard_.html.