Development of a gecko robot to demonstrate Van der Waals forces

The basic construction of the Gecko robot (1st prototype of the student project) is based on the "Bioinspired Wall Climbing Robot" by VeluxHelp on the website "Instructables" (there still without electronic control). The motion sequence is now realised by a total of eight servo motors. The aim is for the gecko to be able to climb up smooth, steep surfaces with a special adhesive tape on its feet, the product Gecko® Nanoplast® from the company Gottlieb Binder. The adhesive tape is made of medical silicone and is based on the principle of Van der Waals forces. The Gecko® Nanoplast® has 29,000 adhesive elements on 1cm² and has a high adhesive force on all smooth as well as moist and slippery surfaces.
www.binder.de/de/produkte/gecko-nanoplast/

Initial tests with the gecko robot showed that the adhesive force of the gecko tape on the feet is so great that the gecko can hardly get the feet off. The idea now was to enable the feet to roll off with the help of additional servos and a sophisticated mechanism. For this purpose, a special flexible filament was used to create the feet in 3D printing, in order to enable rolling or pulling off, starting at the tips of the feet, by means of traction ropes on the feet. The video (2nd prototype of the Gecko robot) demonstrates the movement process.

In the meantime, a 3rd prototype of the Gecko robot has now been developed, in which the foot is designed as a kind of tube shell. The foot is greatly simplified and geared towards functionality in connection with the Gecko tape. The focus is on attaching the foot to the surface with sufficient adhesive force, as well as safely detaching the foot from the surface. This construction is currently in the test phase. It shows that an optimised solution does not always have to be more complicated.