Gecko Feet Inspire Hand-Held Spider-Man Paddles

ygslash (893445) writes DARPA is developing hand-held paddles that can be used to scale vertical walls. The adhesion technology employed in the paddles is based on Van der Waals force, inspired by the feet of certain species of geckos known for their excellent climbing ability. In a recent test, a man weighing almost 100 kg (220 lbs) and carrying a heavy pack that added about 23 kg (50 lbs) of additional weight, was able to scale a vertical glass wall almost 8 m (25 ft) high using the paddles. However, the paddles are reported to be 'not battlefield-ready yet.'

Re:DARPA=bullshit

[Cryacin]

Are you sure you want to stick to that story?

Taking inspiration from the movies

[Camael]

I see someone at DARPA is a fan of Mission: Impossible [yahoo.com].

Cool concept though, and pretty useful for firefighters I'd imagine.

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[aevan]

For fighting an actual fire, I wouldn't want to be so precarious. For rescue work though...and how would it hold up under wet conditions, say, a boat?

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[dbIII]

Probably not well at all. A relative sprays geckos with insect spray to make them fall off the ceiling. Since the poison is unlikely to act quickly (or probably not at all on a reptile), it's likely to be the propellant getting under their feet. It's not much good sticking to a liquid instead of the wall under the liquid.

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[aevan]

Ah, figured. There goes that idea. Still, likely some unconventional uses for them out there.

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[dbIII]

On the other hand in combination with something that drives liquid away from where you want the stuff to stick may deliver possibilities. Since it's on a microscopic scale combining the fibres that stick on the ends with fibres that wick stuff up, channels for air to flow or whatever may not be hard to do.

It will be good to get some use out of the force that makes the conventional idea of nanomachines difficult or impossible (eg. tiny little gears will stick together instead of working like gears above th

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[LifesABeach]

I was thinking of the surviving victums of the Twin Towers Event. Could this device be useful to those above the crash site? How about a cable that allows folks to hold on to? I'm not a soldier, but I don't think that climbing glass walls is a typical combat mission; maybe for the specialty missions?

Uh Oh! Here comes Iron Man

[statemachine]

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

Didn't Mythbusters have an episode on this?

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[mark-t]

I dunno.... did they ever test anything based on Van der Waals force? I remember one where they tested various magnets and suction mechanisms, but did they do another one?

Re:Uh Oh! Here comes Iron Man

[cheater512]

There was also walking on water like some lizards and insects do, but no not quite similar.

Van der Waals force isn't exactly a myth though, just a job for materials science.

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[mark-t]

A show like mythbusters would examine the general viability of something like a spiderman suit or some other portable wall-scaling device that the average tv watcher is going to understand, not about testing the Van der Waals force specifically.

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[Noah Haders]

does anyone else see the irony of using a Van Der Waals force to climb, wait for it, walls?

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[Anonymous Coward]

does anyone else see the irony of using a Van Der Waals force to climb, wait for it, walls?

Van Der Waals? Isn't that just the German translation of an Oasis song?

Re:Uh Oh! Here comes Iron Man

[kenwd0elq]

The problem with trying to USE Van der Waals forces for anything is that in order to stick together, both surfaces must be microscopically smooth; the sort of "smooth" that would make plate glass or mirrors look like "volcanic rock under a magnifying glass". "Reflecting telescope mirror" smooth. Making materials that smooth - and KEEPING them that smooth - is going to be a challenge.

As physics, it's pretty neat. From an engineering perspective, it's going to be a problem.

Re:Uh Oh! Here comes Iron Man

[dbIII]

both surfaces must be microscopically smooth

Not as such - as seen in the summary where geckos are mentioned. One side is made up of a LOT of very smooth surfaces of microscopic size which gets around the problem.

From an engineering perspective, it's going to be a problem

Which has been worked on for decades and is paying off now with a few different things - I think another is called "gecko tape".

Re:Uh Oh! Here comes Iron Man

[GrahamCox]

The problem with trying to USE Van der Waals forces for anything is that in order to stick together, both surfaces must be microscopically smooth

Better not tell Geckos about that, they'll die out once they hear.

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[necro81]

Better not tell Geckos about that, they'll die out once they hear.

There's a Wile E Coyote reference to be made somewhere...

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[Adriax]

"Thor, the god of thunder, is trying to enter my building!"
-Adam Savage, Season 4 Episode 11

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[Neil Boekend]

I can save much more than that on car insurance by not having a car.

wow so they stuck it on another trhing

[maliqua]

or rather its the first thing they stuck it on and the reason they designed it but the articles are coming out in reverse order

http://science.slashdot.org/st... [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/s... [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/s... [slashdot.org]

Breaking Glass

[Jim Sadler]

I doubt that it is safe to count on most glass not failing under such stress. Climbing concrete or sheet rock might be a better notion.

Glass is incredibly hydrophilic

[TrollstonButterbeans]

So glass loves water and anything else prone to Van der Waals forces.

Good luck with scaling rock or wood or metal.

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[dbIII]

Once again, watch a gecko or see some video footage of one for an example of this idea in action on wood and metal.

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[SuiteSisterMary]

My understanding is that the technology works poorly on dusty surfaces, due to the setae sticking to the dust rather than the surface, but the only surface that absolutely won't work is Teflon.

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[TsuruchiBrian]

I guess we are lucky that none of the places that our military fights in are dusty....

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[SuiteSisterMary]

Holy crap, it doesn't work RIGHT NOW! In CERTAIN SITUATIONS! Abandon all development!

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[TsuruchiBrian]

Holy crap, some things become usable after development! EVERYTHING must become usable after development!

Yeah yeah DARPA

[93 Escort Wagon]

We know about the "research" leading to this - we all saw "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" too.

On belay

[tchdab1]

Despite the purported difficulty with rock and this technology, I believe rock climbing will never be the same.

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[polyp2000]

It sounds like you are caught between a rock and a hard place to me!

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[Smallpond]

Weight goes up as the cube of size while area goes up as the square, which is one reason there are no 2 meter geckos.

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[necro81]

which is one reason there are no 2 meter geckos

Only in my nightmares...

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[Triklyn]

well, not any more, since i shot them all in the eyes.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

'not battlefield-ready yet'

[jasontheking]

Does 'not battlefield-ready yet' mean that grenades stick to the hand and won't let go? or mortar rounds, plane wings, tank tracks, pants...

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[peragrin]

my first thought was along the lines of so not battlefield ready is it thief ready? will some thieves use these to break into buildings?i there a movie about it yet?

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[pastafazou]

I think the real problem will be finding a battlefield full of glass walls in order to make these really useful...

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[iggymanz]

not a problem at all, the US government has decided its biggest enemy is The People

Gecko feet? Does it create webs?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

If yes, it's probably just Tim Berners-Lee in disguise.

Only 100kg

[Viol8]

"In a recent test, a man weighing almost 100 kg (220 lbs) "

They've got a way to go before it can support your average fat american then. But then I suppose if you need to get one of those land whales up the side of a building you'd use a crane anyway.

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[Triklyn]

reading comprehension fail, 270lbs. 100 kg + 50lbs of gear.

learn to do math, or did they not educate you in the numbers?

Gecko Paddles??

[zildgulf]

Can these Gecko Paddles save us 15% on our car insurance in 15 minutes?

Oh wait, this is not how any of this works! I can save more in half the time.

"You are never too old, too wacky, too wild
to pick up a book and read to a child" - Dr. Seuss

possible dupe from 2001

[WhiteDragon]

tech.slashdot.org/story/01/05/17/1452217/scaling-walls-with-suction-cups