Simon Fraser University researchers have developed a tank-like robot, the “Tailless Timing Belt Climbing Platform” (TBCP-II), that can scale smooth walls, allowing it to inspect pipes, buildings, aircraft and nuclear power plants and for search and rescue operations.

The toes of geckos have amazing characteristics that allow them to adhere to most surfaces and research suggests that they work as result of van der Waals forces (very weak, attractive forces that occur between molecules). These dry but sticky toe pads were simulated in the lab using the material polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and were manufactured to contain very small mushroom cap shapes.

Ref.: J Krahn et al., A tailless timing belt climbing platform utilizing dry adhesives with mushroom caps, Smart Mater. Struct., 2011, [DOI: 10.1088/0964-1726/20/11/115021] (free access)