There are many wall climbing robots roaming the Earth, but few can scale heights as gracefully as this little guy can. Developed by researchers on the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, this bot can wind its way across any glass, metal or cloth terrain, without even touching its pods to the outside. The key lies in Bernoulli’s Principle, which states that because the speed of a fluid increases, its pressure decreases. This phenomenon also applies to streams of air, which, when moving at high speeds around of a circular gripper, can create a vacuum strong enough to carry things without actually touching them. As a result, air shoots out of the robot’s feet at greater than 2,000 miles per hour, creating enough pressure to boost the craft, while holding it virtually the wall. The technology isn’t new, but rarely can it support the load of a complete device — not to mention the additional cargo that this climber’s non-contact adhesive pads can hold. Researchers say the supersonic grippers could be available in “some months” and should probably cost “a couple of hundred dollars.” As for the bot itself, Canterbury’s engineers envision it getting used for industrial inspections — though the more we predict about it, the more we realize just how dirty our windows are. Video after the break.
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