A gecko-inspired robot could one day "crawl" around the exterior of spacecrafts in order to keep them clean and running smoothly.
The prototype's footpads are composed of "dry microfibers," very similar to the tiny hairs on a gecko's feet, Discovery News reported via AFP. These hairs, called setae, create a "molecular attraction" dubbed the van der Waals force which allows the lizards to run on walls and other vertical surfaces.
The gecko-bot was created by Researchers at Canada's Simon Fraser University; the engineers named the robot "Abigaille."
"This approach is an example of biomimicry, taking engineering solutions from the natural world," team leader Mike Henrey said, Discovery News reported.
The team observed the robot's artificial setae worked well even in simulated space conditions.
"A depth-sensing indentation instrument was used inside a vacuum chamber to precisely assess the dry adhesive's sticking performance," ESA specialist Laurent Pambaguian said in a press release, Discovery News reported." Experimental success means deployment in space might one day be possible."
Dry adhesives are extremely important in this type of work, a European Space Agency (ESA) news release reported.
"Scotch, duct or pressure-sensitive tape would collect dust, reducing their stickiness over time. They would also give off fumes in vacuum conditions, which is a big no-no because it might affect delicate spacecraft systems," Henry said in the ESA news release.
The robot is also extremely mobile, which will be perfect for maneuvering the complicated outsides of spacecrafts.
"Our Abigaille climbing robot is therefore quite dexterous, with six legs each having four degrees of freedom, so it should be handle environments that a wheeled robot could not," Henry said in the news release. "For example, it can transition from the vertical to horizontal, which might be useful for going around a satellite or overcoming obstacles on the way."
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