Students have developed robots that climb walls in the laboratory of Dr. Amir Shapiro in the Mechanical Engineering department at the Ben Gurion University of Negev in Israel.
The four climbing robot prototypes are shown in the following order:
1. a robot with magnetic wheels capable of climbing on ferromagnetic surfaces (see the definition for Ferromagnetism in Wikipedia). Possible use: on ships or steel bridges.
2. The second concept is a robotic snail that climbs non-metallic surfaces using melted glue. Just like a snail, this specimen leaves traces behind it.
3. The third prototype uses 3M adhesive wheels to climb a wall (a school blackboard is shown here) and can also climb glass surfaces.
4. The last one is a robot with 4 limbs, able to climb rough surfaces (exterior walls, wood, stone etc.). It has 12 fishing hooks on each of its legs (48 total) and can climb like a cat.
For more information:
-see the Amir Shapiro page: bgu.ac.il/~ashapiro/ -Ben Gurion’s page at the University of the Negev: bgurobots.pbworks.com
