[gatagato]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has devised gecko-inspired technology that could provide humans with the ability to scale glass walls. As part of the organization’s Z-Man program, DARPA has showcased a 218-pound climber making his way up and down a vertical, 25-foot stretch of glass, while hauling an extra 50 pounds of equipment. In order to make his ascent, the participant required nothing more than a few bio-inspired climbing paddles.

According to a DARPA press release, the climbing paddles are based upon “novel polymer microstructure technology,” developed by the Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

As part of the Z-Man project, DARPA’s primary ambition was to design and manufacture a new, technologically sophisticated means of climbing that offered a more discrete approach. The research group argue that man’s climbing instruments have not undergone any significant evolution in the last millennia; in particular, they stress that combat operatives have relied upon “labor intensive,” high risk methods of climbing, typically using ropes and ladders.

The Z-Man initiative aims to address these problems, using a series of paddles that can make the process less labor-intensive, while improving safety and maneuverability. It is hoped the new climbing gear will, eventually, ensure warfighters armed with full combat loads are able to ascend vertical walls made from almost any material; DARPA believes this will provide troops with a tactical edge in urban environments.

Dr. Matt Goodman, the Z-Man project manager recently discussed how DARPA had looked toward the gecko for inspiration – one of the greatest climbers of the Animal Kingdom – in overcoming some of the maneuverability issues that U.S. forces encounter in urban environments:

“Like many of the capabilities that the Department of Defense pursues, we saw with vertical climbing that nature had long since evolved the means to efficiently achieve it. The challenge to our performer team was to understand the biology and physics in play when geckos climb and to reverse-engineer those dynamics into an artificial system for use by humans.”

pounds per square inch, per limb. Essentially, this means the creature can suspend the entire weight of its body from one sticky toe. The gecko accomplishes this incredible feat through use of tiny bristles that coat its limbs. Each individual bristle is then covered in microscopic fibers, called spatulae, which help establish weak van der Waals’ forces with a smooth surface. It is essential that these forces remain relatively weak, as the gecko needs to rapidly attach and detach its feet from the surface to make a rapid ascent.

Of course, with humans weighing considerably more, one of the major design problems involved scaling. With the average human male weighing around 75 kilograms, the team needed to ensure their paddles provided adhesive forces that acted in two directions – both perpendicular and parallel to the vertical surface.

The paddles are not quite ready for use in the battlefield, as tests continue to assess the technology’s performance.
http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Rele...014/06/05.aspx
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/...ke-spider-man/

During testing, an operator climbed 25 feet vertically on a glass surface using no climbing equipment other than a pair of hand-held, gecko-inspired paddles. The climber wore, but did not require, the use of a safety belay. Image: DARPA


Image of the gecko foot, showing the setae and spatulae structures.

[Arkoquisa]

The geckos where I live are transparent, but having a tropical sun, they will only come out at night. You can see all their organs working when they crawl on a window.

One day, when gecko-like gloves and shoes become widely available, sky scraper scaling competitions will be AMAZING!

[Sharon]

Wow

The extreme sports world is going to be fantastic

[kellyhound]

great for burglars so better lock windows in high rise office buildings lol

[ColbiasVolk]

Back in 02 they said everyone could in own a pair of nanocarbon tubing gloves in a decade, about time.