Get Your Gecko Grippers Here

November 19, 2014 – Ever wondered why not just Spiderman but lizards and all kinds of insects can climb up walls? Ever wanted to be just like Spiderman when it comes to wall climbing? Well forget Spiderman and welcome to Geckoman, the product of a team of researchers from Stanford University and described in the latest issue of Interface, a Journal of the Royal Society.

Geckoman has technology that mimics the toes of the Gecko, able to defy gravity because of their sticky properties. See the picture below. It shows a typical Gecko foot. The toes are bulbous. They are covered with hundreds of setae. Each setae consists of tiny bristles called spatulae. When the spatuale contact the surface of wall van der Waals force creates a physical bond as electrons from the Gecko’s foot and those from the wall interact to create electromagnetic attraction. So it is not glue sticky, but electromagnetic sticky.

Stanford’s Geckoman is not electromagnetic although it accomplishes the same capability as the little lizard. Using a polymer called PDMS and fashioning into microwedges, researchers were able to mimic an adhesive. The material was then shaped into hand-sized gripper pads backed by a spring to distribute weight evenly and absorb the force when climbing. The technology was also incorporated into foot pad platforms which evenly distributed weight so that much of the climbing force needed could be transferred to the lower body.

The Stanford group chose to test its new PDMS adhesive pads on the side of building sheathed in panes of glass. The pads worked and allowed Geckoman to release and shift weight repeatedly while climbing up the wall.

The researchers have formed Gecko Biomedical to commercialize their technological discovery. Other applications include using the adhesive nature of the materials for wound closures and in minimally invasive heart surgery and blood vessel repair.

I’m sure there are many other applications to come from window cleaning to the military.

Related articles across the web

• Spiderman-style gloves let you climb up walls of GLASS
• These Gloves Let You Climb a Glass Wall Like a Goddamn Gecko