Climbing with Structured Dry Adhesives: Sticky Robots for Scaling Smooth Vertical Surfaces

Two styles of climbing robot were developed for space applications. These robots, which used gecko-like dry adhesives for adhesion, have the potential to stick to nearly any surface in low pressure environments (unlike magnets, suction cups or pressure sensitive adhesives). TBCP (Timing Belt Climbing Platform), a 240 g robot, consisted of two modules and used belts of dry adhesive to adhere to the wall. A method of preloading the front module using the rear module was developed. Vertical climbing was performed at a speed of 34mm s−1 and transfers between various orthogonal surfaces were demonstrated. Three prototypes of a legged robot, Abigaille, were built. Two Abigaille prototypes could climb vertically (1mm s−1 for Abigaille-II and 0.4mm s−1 for Abigaille-III) and transfer from horizontal to vertical surfaces. With more strength than the other Abigaille prototypes, Abigaille-III was also capable of traversing structured surfaces and overcoming small obstacles while climbing.