MICRO TUGS

 

A pair of Stanford University PhD students at the school's Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation Lab have developed what they call MicroTugs, or mini bots that use adhesive power similar to what's found on the feet of geckos and ants to pull off incredible feats of strength.

One robot weighing less than a third of an ounce can carry a 2.2-pound weight vertically up a glass wall.
Another robot weighs less than half an ounce, but can drag 2,000 times its own weight on a flat surface.

"This is the equivalent of a human adult dragging a blue whale around on land," the researchers note.

What's even more amazing is that the tests are actually bound by the limits of the actuators in the robots, not the adhesive power of the feet.

Watch:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rWuUUGWAp4&feature=youtu.be

Know more:
http://bdml.stanford.edu/Main/MicroTugs

Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/gecko-power-robots_n_7157692.html?ncid=edlinkushpmg00000030