While not the first wall climbing machine we've come across, Vortex's VRAM Mobile Robot Platform (VMRP) machine weds ascension and undercover surveillance in fine fashion. Aimed at law enforcement tasks, military missions, and fanatical hobbyists, this clinger is remotely controlled with the capacity to add "onboard intelligence and sensors to monitor VMRP status and health." It utilizes a vortex vacuum to suction itself to vertical surfaces, and then relies on the wheels to get it movin'. Moreover, this bot was built to withstand mild weather hazards and communicate wirelessly back to the user, and its ability to wield microphones, video cameras, and proximity sensors make this the ultimate eavesdropping tool. Sadly, we've no idea how much it'd take to get one of these in your needy palms, but free free to indulge in the video waiting after the break.
Cool, lets see how good this thing can do on a big glass building.. or even better racing on a big glass building... even even better, racing on a big glass building with rombas waiting at the bottom to clean up the mess. or err something.
I think they might be more suitable for surveillance if they didn't sound like aeroplanes taking off.
I think they should find a way to stay stuck in one spot without using the suction so that it can save on battery and obviously make so much noise when it is stationary. Perhaps like a nailgun of sorts to hold itself in the brick, or suction pads for glass surfaces..
This reminds me of something I saw in a motorcycle magazine over 30 years ago. Honda would give its employees time and use of equipment and materials to work on inventions they would show off on an annual engineering day. This included things like square-wheeled bicycles and a radio controlled golf-club caddy that would follow its master around the course, but the item that made my jaw drop was this gorgeous little go-cart with a huge fan built into the chasis. The article described how the inventor rolled it over to a brick wall, laid the cart up against the wall, got on and proceded to go up and down the wall. Ever since, I've been expecting it to reappear in some sort of 3-D Nascar racing series (Oh! The Humanity!)
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posted June 29th 2007 7:52AM
Cool, lets see how good this thing can do on a big glass building.. or even better racing on a big glass building... even even better, racing on a big glass building with rombas waiting at the bottom to clean up the mess. or err something.
ilike it
Very well done and quite impressive.
By the way, thanks Engadget for not COMPLETELY whoring your site over to iPhone coverage.
You do have alot, but not to a level of stupid excess like I'm seeing elsewhere.
There are far more (and cooler) gadgets to keep up on!
Thanks for keeping it real.
I think they might be more suitable for surveillance if they didn't sound like aeroplanes taking off.
I think they should find a way to stay stuck in one spot without using the suction so that it can save on battery and obviously make so much noise when it is stationary.
Perhaps like a nailgun of sorts to hold itself in the brick, or suction pads for glass surfaces..
if this thing can peep into windows then i guess it'll come in handy to most of the paparazzis out there!!!
its noisy as hell as you might expect so not too great for secret stuff, better for checking gutters etc. But watch out for the air bricks!
BTW a typical household vac can hold a person to a roof if you spread the vac over a reasonable area.
i'd love to see the mythbusters test the vac holding someone to a ceiling trick :)
watch out - google's not happy with street view - next will be 'window-view'...
Great, the StalkerBot 9000 is finally available. Now I can stalk whoever I want from the comfort of my own home :D
You can only stalk deaf people that live alone and have no neighbors. Good luck with that. :)
I don't know, there are other possibilities. I could stalk people when they're hoovering.
I want one of these in Roomba form... awesome for dusting shelves and getting cobwebs from those high corners :)
I for one welcome our vertical climbing, wall sucking, pram wheeled overloads.
This reminds me of something I saw in a motorcycle magazine over 30 years ago. Honda would give its employees time and use of equipment and materials to work on inventions they would show off on an annual engineering day. This included things like square-wheeled bicycles and a radio controlled golf-club caddy that would follow its master around the course, but the item that made my jaw drop was this gorgeous little go-cart with a huge fan built into the chasis. The article described how the inventor rolled it over to a brick wall, laid the cart up against the wall, got on and proceded to go up and down the wall. Ever since, I've been expecting it to reappear in some sort of 3-D Nascar racing series (Oh! The Humanity!)
I, for one, welcome our perverted peeping Tom overlords.
cool