A robot that will climb the walls

Spider-Man has been doing it for decades and insects for millions of years. The ability to cling to walls has been a handy evolutionary feature for our buggy friends (and superheroes inspired by them) for a long time. Wouldn’t it be swell if we could invent our own machines that could climb walls without much effort? Well, evolution can move over because a team of researchers working at the non-profit outlet SRI International has designed an incredible wall-climbing robot that could have huge implications for future machines.

The SRI robot uses electro-adhesion to move up a ninety degree angle. Electro-adhesion is the process of generating a small electrostatic charge between the wall and (in this case) the robot’s body, allowing it to cling to surfaces. SRI will publicly unveil their creation this week at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Pasadena, CA but gave “Popular Mechanics” an exclusive first look at the device. The potential applications for wall-climbing robots are through the roof: security, home maintenance, the military, even kids toys. Think of what you would do if you were a five-year-old boy that wanted to freak out your little sister by having your spider robot climb up the wall behind her while she was reading.

According to an SRI researcher speaking to the magazine, the robot uses “a very small amount of power ... and shows the ability to repeatedly clamp to wall substrates that are heavily covered in dust or other debris.” Move over Roomba, this one doesn’t stop just at the walls.