Very small very powerful robots

Oh, great. Another thing for my nightmares.

I wonder how long the adhesive lasts.

Sylvia.

On a sunny day (Tue, 28 Apr 2015 21:37:49 +1000) it happened Sylvia Else wrote in :

Depends how much you shake in your nightmares.

What could go wrong?

At least they're quite slow.

So far.

Sylvia.

That's just the boffin stuff- they don't need speed to demonstrate algorithms. There are faster ones for military purposes.

--sp

kind of cool. Any info on what the non-adhesive adhesive pad is?

The article text is here:

"The secret is in the adhesives on the robots' feet. Their design is inspired by geckos, which have climbing skills that are legendary in the animal kingdom. The adhesives are covered in minute rubber spikes that grip firmly onto the wall as the robot climbs. When pressure is applied, the spikes bend, increasing their surface area and thus their stickiness. When the robot picks its foot back up, the spikes straighten out again and detach easily."

On a sunny day (Tue, 28 Apr 2015 22:42:37 +1000) it happened Sylvia Else wrote in :

I like the climbing the wall gecko thing, found it from this link:

mm seems Russia now has a new tank too, they are (think) more realistic about electrionics :-)

Quote: "However, he warns that network-centric systems can be unstable. "Electronics are a very sensitive thing," Sivkov said. Should the system get suppressed, the tank's crew could be left practically helpless, unless they are also trained in more old-school style of combat." " I think 'merricans sometimes forget that.

Need some of that gecko stuff to experiment :-)

On a sunny day (Tue, 28 Apr 2015 08:53:52 -0400) it happened Spehro Pefhany wrote in :

I wonder what happens if I throw one of those super-magnets into such a swarm.

Or just a bucket of 10 second glue, or ... Usually that higtech is easily defeated by very low tech.

But once in a blue ? moon they find somting usable.

Ants, I kill them by the hundreds each year.

Prolly wear out due to friction with micro-diamonds. Geckos seem to die before their pads wear out, so that can be used as a very crude lower limit. Maybe multiply by 5 for better guesstimate?

I'm assuming that geckos constantly regenerate their pads, which the robots presumably don't do.

Sylvia.