HONG KONG: NASA engineers say they’ve turned to nature – and to the super-sticky feet of geckos – to design robots that may someday climb around the outside of the International Space Station.
Using a “gecko gripper” system, such robots could conduct inspections and repairs to the exterior of the ISS, and also possibly conduct scientific research, say researchers at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Gecko feet are extremely sticky, but not in the way adhesives or glues are, the engineers explain.
Instead, the gecko’s feet have millions of tiny hair-like spikes that let them cling to walls and even ceilings, thanks to a phenomenon known as van der Waals forces.
Molecules – whether in the wall or the gecko’s feet – have positive and negative sides, so the side of one molecule will attract the oppositely charged side of a neighboring molecule.
Multiply that by the millions or even billions of molecules involved, and you get the “stickiness” that allows geckos to climb walls and cling to ceilings.
Tesla driverless system to use updated radar technology
WASHINGTON: Electric carmaker Tesla announced Sunday it was upgrading its Autopilot software to use more advanced radar technology. In a...
