Check out these real-life Spider-Man gloves used to climb straight up a wall
Monday, November 24, 2014 - 12:57pm
Though
we tend to focus on the web-slinging and strength, one the coolest
things about Spider-Man is the ability to take off and scale a wall with
his super sticky hands. Well, as long as you have these gloves, you
should be able to follow right behind him.
http://www.blastr.com/2014-11-24/check-out-these-real-life-spider-man-gloves-used-climb-straight-wall
Researchers at Stanford have unveiled a new glove project similar to Spider-Man’s wall-crawling — though this is admittedly described as “gecko-inspired” — that allows the wearer to stick to a wall and climb right up. The demo plays out fairly slowly, but with some refinement, you’d think this thing could come in pretty handy for a DIY superhero.
Researchers at Stanford have unveiled a new glove project similar to Spider-Man’s wall-crawling — though this is admittedly described as “gecko-inspired” — that allows the wearer to stick to a wall and climb right up. The demo plays out fairly slowly, but with some refinement, you’d think this thing could come in pretty handy for a DIY superhero.
The
team basically took the sticky pads geckos use to stick to things and
scaled it up to a point where it’s big and efficient enough for a human
being. The trick? Clingy, hairlike nano fibers that flatten out when
pulled downward and grip via electromagnetic attraction. It also uses a
shape-memory alloy to keep from breaking mid-climb. But, as Popular Mechanics notes, it can still be yanked off with a perpendicular tug to continue climbing.
Using
springs, they anchored 24 microwedge patches to a flat plate that a
person could grab with their hand, the idea being that the 24 patches
distribute the force of a climber. However, this is actually a
well-tested recipe for failure. Normal springs won't distribute weight
as evenly as you'd need. Worse, when a single patch is pulled past its
breaking point, the failure can avalanche across the entire plate.
Cool
as this tech might seem, it does have a few limitations. It only works
on extremely flat and smooth surfaces like glass, and it does not work
in the rain. So clear-weather crime only, would-be superheroes. The pads
also get dirty, so keep them wiped down so they’ll remain effective.
Check out the Spider-Gecko gloves in action below and let us know what you think:
