Niklas Galler has designed (in theory) his C-Bot wall climbing robot. The idea is that this spider looking robot will climb buildings and check for structural integrity (cracks, mildew, rust, etc…) The robots climbing feet take a page from geckos, the C-Bot’s footpads are covered by tiny nano-hairs which act as adhesive for the vertical tasks. While stuck to the building or wall the robot scans the surface with ultrasonic rays looking for problems.
Not near reality at this point… but would be pretty neat to see this things climbing buildings in the future.
{Via YankoDesign}
Reminds me of the Stickybot by Mark Cutkosky’s crew from Stanford. Except his is a working prototype. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECpY2N5rgcM