Drawing inspiration from the gecko, researchers from the Simon Fraser University (SFU) have been able to create adhesives that carefully mimic the toe pads of the lizard that give it the amazing ability to climb smooth vertical surfaces. They used those adhesives on belts used by Timeless Belt Climbing Platform (TBCP-II) – a tank-like robot ... »

The adhesive surface of gecko’s toes has inspired many research groups to try to mimic this ability in an artificial material. Researchers at the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and co-workers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore claim that they came up with the closest biomimicry yet, and that their synthetic gecko toe ... »

Inspired by geckos, a team of engineers has developed a reversible adhesion method for printing electronics on a variety of tricky surfaces such as clothes, plastic and leather. Researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign designed a  square polymer stamp that allows them to vary its adhesion strength. The stamp can ... »

Gecko’s foot ability to stick to many surfaces, including glass, has been inspiring scientists to mimic that ability in other to make dry adhesive materials and robots able to walk up various materials. A group of scientists from Stanford University are developing such a robot which is fittingly named Stickybot. They are already working on ... »