electroadhesion
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Electrostatic sheets promise super-light exoskeletons
Of all the reasons exoskeletons aren't widespread, weight is one of the biggest. Even the slickest designs still tend to need bulky machinery. Not at Carnegie Mellon University, however -- its researchers have developed an exoskeleton clutch mechanism that barely weighs anything. Their Electroadhesive Clutch, as the name suggests, relies on electrostatic adhesion between specially coated electrode sheets to control spring movement. At 0.05 ounces per pair, it's 30 times lighter than existing clutches, and uses up to 750 times less power. Even if you had hundreds of clutches, the robotic assistance would take a huge strain off your body. And did we mention that there's three times as much torque density?
SRI's electroadhesion tech enables new army of wall-climbing robots
When the inevitable Robot Apocalypse goes down, you can credit SRI International for helping the forces assimilate. The aforesaid entity has apparently been toiling around the clock on a technology it's calling compliant electroadhesion, and to put things simply, it gives robotic climbers the ability to scale all sorts of walls made of all sorts of materials. Tests have shown wall-gripping robots climb surfaces made of steel, brick, concrete, glass, wood and drywall, which effectively eliminates any hope of you surviving the fallout based on the construction choice of your bunker. Thankfully, it does seems as if this could also be applied to human footwear, giving Earthlings at least a fighting chance of standing toe-to-toe with these guys on the side of the Menara Kuala Lumpur. Head on past the break if you're looking for a horror film. Or a demonstrative video... same difference.
Wall-climbing robot scales nearly any building material
Most of the bots we've seen recently have either been targeted at performing human-like tasks or simply too adorable to actually fear, but SRI International's wall-climbing robot is doing its best to put some terror back in the bot game, using something called "electro-adhesion" to cling to nearly any building material and climb with surprising alacrity. Electro-adhesion is apparently relatively low-power, and SRI researchers say that the bots can even climb walls that are covered in dust or other debris. Interesting -- just don't give the thing any cameras or lasers, okay? Video after the break.
