Slashdot Log In
Artificial Gecko Adhesive, Now In Experimental Glue
Posted by
timothy
on Fri Oct 10, 2008 04:45 PM
from the will-arrive-one-day-before-singularity dept.
from the will-arrive-one-day-before-singularity dept.
thefickler writes "Scientists at the University of Dayton have created a peel-on, peel-off glue which mimics the wall-climbing abilities of Spiderman. The substance, based on the feet of the Gecko lizard, is three times stickier than existing adhesives. The material is so strong that a 4×4mm pad would be enough to hold a 1.5kg object such as a hardcover book. However, it's likely too expensive for consumer use: one British scientist calculates that a single Post-it note using the glue would cost around a thousand dollars." We've mentioned the possibilities of synthetic gecko technology several times before, including as applied in this wall-climbing robot; commercial applications have seemed just around the corner for a while now.
Related Stories
[+]
Hardware: Robo-Gecko Climbs Glass 143 comments
galactic_grub writes "Researchers at Stanford have developed a robot that mimics the extraordinary climbing skills of the Gecko. These creatures can climb sheer surfaces thanks to the intermolecular forces exerted by millions of tiny hairs their feet, called setae. The robot, Stickybot, has polymer pads on its feed with synthetic setae. Check out the video of it climbing up a sheet of glass."
[+]
Science: Scientists Developing Commercially Viable Synthetic Gecko 122 comments
Gordon from Seattle writes to mention a CNN article about a new way to hang out. A British aerospace team is working on a super-sticky substance they're calling "Synthetic Gecko". It mimics the hairs on a gecko's foot, and may eventually be developed as a reusable adhesive. From the article: "Each of the microscopic setae on a gecko's foot has a mushroom shaped cap on the end, less than one-thousandth of a millimeter across. This ensures that the gecko's foot is in very close contact with the surface beneath. The cumulative attractive force, called van der Waals force, of these setae allows the lizard to scurry up walls and ceilings, and even hang from polished glass surfaces. In 2003 scientists at the University of Manchester produced a one centimeter patch of 'gecko tape,' but neither the University of Manchester nor University of California teams managed to produce the material in a greater quantity, unlike Haq and Sargent, who have already tested areas larger than 10 centimeters-squared."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
The Gekko Field Researcher (Score:2, Funny)
Hmmm... (Score:2)
So its just like those 3M sticky hooks you can stick to your wall, hang some reasonably heavy stuff on them, then pull downwards on a tab attached to the sticky part and they come back off the wall no problem... But stronger.
Color me unimpressed. Can someone get me excited about new problems this address?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Last time I pulled one of those off the wall it came off no problem. Along with the paint and wallboard behind it!
Re: (Score:2)
Hmm, that's a drag, I've never had a problem with one, I love 'em.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
TFS says a 4x4 mm pad holds 1.5 kg.
Someone is wrong (probably TFS, since it implies failure on ther part of the editors).
How can 4.5x4.5 mm hold more than 160 times the eight of 2x2 mm when it's just 5 times the surface area?
Re: (Score:2)
Read TFA. It's 4x4, not 2x2. I don't know where you get the other figure from. So silly.
Re: (Score:2)
A square inch will hold 241.9kg, or over 500 pounds!
Wow, I've been looking for a solution to sticking the really big steel workers to the underside of wide flange beams by their hardhats! Superglue only holds so much.
Re: (Score:2)
Welding the hard hat directly to the beam works so much better.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Welding the hard hat directly to the beam works so much better.
Actually, not. The hat tends to melt. And I'd rather not have to weld channels to the flange to cradle the lip of the helmet either. Bolting is right out, too: it needs to have minimal impact to the structural integrity of the beam.
Re: (Score:2)
the way I heard it on the radio (Score:2)
was that you can apply it and remove it as many times as you like. Removing it doesn't damage the tape. It is more like a velcro than a glue.
Re: (Score:2)
Cost of new technology (Score:5, Insightful)
They mention the cost, but surely that will come down. Anything breakthrough like that is going to be expensive to create until the figure out a way to mass produce it.
I wonder, however, the type of strength you'd have to have to actually "do a Spiderman" up the building. Yes it will hold you to the building, but you'll still have to have the upper body strength to advance your way up without handholds to help if it's a flat surface.
Sci-Fi fun aside, there will no doubt be a lot of uses for this product. And a few years down the road we will have infomercial guru, Billy Mays [wikipedia.org] shouting at us to try new and improved "Gecko Glue" to hang pictures and fix broken mugs. :)
Re: (Score:2)
The price will surely come down - and I expect that it will deflate much as computer and electronic technology has.
I am eager to see the data on this as it will surely spawn the creation of a Moore's-law type formula for nanotech.
Buy your nanotech stocks, some are less than $1 usd per share right now! - they won't stay that cheap forever.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You wouldn't need to rely on upper body strength alone if you also have the stuff on your feet. That lets you use your leg muscles as well.
Even with the proportional strength of a spider, Mr. Parker usually uses his feet when wall-crawling.
Re:Cost of new technology (Score:5, Funny)
You wouldn't need to rely on upper body strength alone if you also have the stuff on your feet. That lets you use your leg muscles as well.
My question-- do the outer layers of skin on my fingers/toes have the adhesive properties to the inner-layers of skin or will I fall 30 stories leaving finger-skin behind? Also, how much building-dust and pollution accumulates to the adhesive, and how quickly?
I really need to know this before I try.
W
PS- are web shooters included?
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I doubt this is anything you'd want to put on your skin. I'm assuming it would go on gloves/shoes. My only question is, if it can hold so much weight, how can it peel off?
Re: (Score:2)
Since the stuff is conductive, it might be possible to 'clean' it of particles by applying a charge to it - hopefully that would transfer charge to the dust/pollution particles on the ends of the hairs and make them repel off? can any physics types confirm if th is would work?
Re: (Score:2)
PS- are web shooters included?
You only get one but you're not gonna like where you have to shoot it from...
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Have you ever climbed up a 80 ft ladder? It takes some serious strength to do that quickly - my arms and legs were shaking when I got to the top of the water tower. Great view though. Too bad we never did get the wifi contract. :(
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, I took that into account, but you can't use the flat part of your feet, you'd have to put the adhesive on the tips of the toes (of the shoes) and even then--how easy would that be without footholds as well as hand holds? Face it, man is not made for climbing like a chimpanzee, much less a gecko! Our legs are too long and our feet don't bend the right way to do this easily--at least not on a flat surface.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Bend to peel off.
Re: (Score:2)
I expect you could get about as much surface area on your feet as you would get on a small hold on a climbing wall. You'd have a lot more area on you hands, because you could stick them flat to the wall.
Re:Cost of new technology (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder, however, the type of strength you'd have to have to actually "do a Spiderman" up the building. Yes it will hold you to the building, but you'll still have to have the upper body strength to advance your way up without handholds to help if it's a flat surface.
The other big thing to think about is what are you adhering to ? This might work if you were climbing up something like clean metal or marble, but most will be much lower quality. Many surfaces if you pull too hard on them will disintegrate and the top layer will detach, so you will just end up falling off the sky scraper with a thin layer of brick or paint on your hands.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder, however, the type of strength you'd have to have to actually "do a Spiderman" up the building. Yes it will hold you to the building, but you'll still have to have the upper body strength to advance your way up without handholds to help if it's a flat surface.
Isn't that what handholds are used for? Holding you to the surface you're climbing? If anything, climbing with this stuff should be less of a strain than with handholds - you don't have to wear your arms out gripping things, you are securely held in place without having to reach for holds in difficult positions and you can put some of the stuff on your feet and maybe knees to let you use the much stronger leg muscles to make your way up.
Re: (Score:2)
I would think the problem would be unsticking yourself to move. If you've got roughly equal surface area on your hands and feet, and you need a bit extra for safety, each hand or foot has to hold a bit more than a quarter of your body weight. That's a decent pull you'd have to give each limb, for each move.
Re: (Score:2)
Have you tried some of the new nano tube glues? They are expensive and you had better need the entire bottle as it turns into a rock upon being opened no matter how hard you try to seal the tube. In other words it is not only how well a glue sticks but how easy it is to use. I recently tried another high tech glue which sort of bubbles and oozes out of a joint even when applied lightly. It makes a yellow stain wherever it touches. It is useless.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Spiderman example warranted? (Score:2, Insightful)
Didn't read summary but.. (Score:5, Funny)
I am so glad they came up with a new gecko adhesive. I haven't had good results nailing my geckos down, they eat the tape, and the natural gecko adhesive just doesn't cut it.
Why? (Score:2)
Velcro (Score:2)
I read TFA.
It's nano-velcro.
Shown on the Science Channel (Score:2, Informative)
Space Shuttle fix? (Score:3, Insightful)
This sounds like a perfect solution for adhering the tiles to the outside of the space shuttle, provided it can withstand the heat. Considering the glue would be on the back of the insulating tiles, does that mean the temperatures would be tolerable enough for it to work?
2 cents
That's odd (Score:3, Funny)
Reading only the title - as is traditional around here - why would I want an adhesive which only adheres to geckos?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Peel-On, apply directly to the peel!
Or maybe they mean you have to apply it in a reverse peeling motion instead of simply slamming it straight down....
Re: (Score:2)
So, "lay on" or "roll on"?
Re:Not to be a pedant, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't mean this as an insult; it's just that your post made me grin. Kind of like when someone underscores what they are expressing metaphorically by saying, "literally." Like: "I was so hungry I literally could have eaten a horse." I've actually taken to saying, myself, "[blah blah], literally! By which I mean figuratively."
And when anyone questions my most outlandish statements, I tell them, straight faced, "I always speak in hyperbole. Always. ALLLWAYS."
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Kind of like when someone underscores what they are expressing metaphorically by saying, "literally." Like: "I was so hungry I literally could have eaten a horse."
I have literally eaten a horse [wikipedia.org] you insensitive clod!
It was mighty tasty too.
Re: (Score:2)
I had horse when I was in France a few years ago. When friends asked me how it was, I'd say, "It was g-o-o-o-o-o-d!" (think like a whinny)
Re: (Score:2)
Do I have to have eaten the WHOLE thing, or just the edible parts?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Can it be removed instantly without solvents and with no damage to the materials bonded together?
Well, there goes my Might Putty [youtube.com] reference...
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Can it be removed instantly without solvents and with no damage to the materials bonded together?
Yes, that's the whole point of this.
Think about a gecko, does it rip the paint off walls with each step? The bond is easily released by peeling but sticks strongly if you try to slide it, like a post-it note but stronger. Apparently it is self-cleaning too.
It doesn't bond the way glue or other adhesives do, the adhesion is from the addition of the van der Waals force from millions/billions of tiny "hairs". more info [berkeley.edu]
Re:Article is Annoying as Hell (Score:4, Insightful)
So wear gloves and shoes that are tightly attached. You can hold yourself up normally by your fingers and toes, right? Problem solved.
Parent
Post is annoying as hell (Score:5, Funny)
There are probably a few more uses for it than using a small pad to blue a book to a wall and to be spiderman. Don't be so obtuse.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
This gets posted verbatim to just about every story. It's trash, the poster probably doesn't even look for replies.
They could at least vary it a bit, now not only is it stupid, it's stale.