Microstructured Polymer Adhesive Feet for Climbing Robots
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6/12/2007
12:02 AM
Microstructured
Polymer Adhesive Feet for Climbing Robots
Kathryn A. Daltorio, Stanislav Gorb, Andrei Peressadko, Andrew D. Horchler, Terence E. Wei, Roy E. Ritzmann, and Roger D. Quinn Abstract Novel insect-foot–inspired materials may enable future robots to walk on surfaces regardless of the direction of gravity. Mini-Whegs™, a small robot that uses four wheel-legs for locomotion, was converted to a wall-walking robot with compliant, adhesive feet. First, the robot was tested with conventional adhesive feet. Then a new, reusable insect-inspired adhesive was tested on the robot. This structured polymer adhesive has less adhesive strength than conventional pressure-sensitive adhesives, but it has two important advantages: the foot material maintains its properties for more walking cycles before becoming contaminated, and the feet can then be washed and reused with similar results, which is not feasible with conventional adhesives. After the addition of a tail and widening the feet, the robot is capable of ascending vertical smooth glass surfaces using the structured polymer adhesive.
Introduction Compact robots are vacuuming household floors, exploring the surface of Mars, inspecting ducts, and performing other tasks that humans find tedious, hazardous, or difficult. Most of these robots are confined to the near-flat surface on which they start. However, if they could climb like insects, tall steep terrain would not be a barrier, and they could access a larger range of environments. If the climbing techniques of robots matched that of geckos, robots might be walking on ceilings, changing high light bulbs, searching collapsed buildings, cleaning building exteriors, or climbing trees for surveillance. For space applications, novel attachment mechanisms may be required to anchor a robot to a surface in the absence of gravity and air pressure. Already there are robots that can scale various steep substrates; ferrous surfaces can be climbed with electromagnetic effec-
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tors.1 By finding randomly placed handholds, LEMUR II can autonomously climb near-vertical environments.2 Clean, featureless surfaces can be scaled using suction pads,3,4 but compressed-air systems are bulky and the speed of the robot is limited by the speed at which the suction cups can be applied and released. Reconfigurable Adaptable MicroRobots5 are able to traverse a wide range of surfaces by crawling or flipping, but require external power and control to run an onboard suction system. There are surfaces on which suction-based climbing is not effective (e.g., bumpy, perforated, or dirty surfaces), although robots like City Climber6 overcome some of these issues by maintaining a vortex that generates a lowpressure zone between the robot and the climbing surface. With greater agility than these climbing robots, a cockroach can climb glass,
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cardboard, foam, tree bark, and many other substrates. To attach to the smooth surfaces, cockroaches have smooth adhesive pads; to attach to rough and soft surfaces, they have
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