To weave their own thread “web”, the robot uses a thermoplastic adhesives.
Swiss scientists have created a robot capable of tricks Spider-Man. They taught him to jump from one building to New York to another, firing the cobwebs from his wrist, pass “Dni.Ru” .
“Spiders in nature travel freely through the air, the space between the branches – said Wang LiYuy projecting robot together with colleagues from the laboratory of ETH Zurich (Bio-Inspired Robotics Lab ETH Zürich). – Today there is no technology that would allow prodelyvat robots such tricks. Available except that flight, but then at the forefront the question arises, what payload they can carry. ”
Meanwhile, developed a robot capable of doing that in nature make spiders. To weave the thread’s own “web”, the robot uses thermoplastic adhesives which are solid at ambient temperature but liquefy when heated to about 70 degrees Celsius.
According to the technology shveytsastkih developer material is fed into a small chamber and is heated in the device, and then ejected from the air outlet, and wherein solidified becomes like a cable. When the future “web” is ejected from the nozzle, it passes between the two wheels, which are controlled by special motors and grab “thread”.
Due to the fact that for the second flight material does not have time to cool down completely, “web” is sticky and can attach to any hard surface. Then, using the gripping wheels may be moved by the robot homemade rope at a speed of about 12 centimeters per minute.
Nevertheless, as reported by “BBC News” , at the moment the system is able to produce a vertical line “web”, but developers plan that will soon learn to do the robot and horizontal. The team also hopes to teach the robot the skill of weaving webs between entire surfaces.
Unusual device can be used to explore the rocky planets. So, being at the edge of a cliff, the robot can create enduring the weight of the rope and descend down it. The ability to create horizontal ropes allow the robot to move heavy objects over precipices, cracks or craters. In general, the invention is useful for working in difficult terrain.
In the future, scientists want to work more closely with the material from which are “threads”. Substances having different characteristics will produce cables with different diameters and endurance, and therefore, the load can also be varied.
