Robotic wall-climbers: From rescue missions to kid's toys

June 9, 2009  |  Length: 00:02:04

Robotic wall climbers assigned to military surveillance? Harsha Prahlad has developed a smart technology called electro-adhesion. The way it works, mechanical robots are clamped to walls using an electro-static charge and then the robots move up and down with an electric power supply. Prahlad believes the technology could be used for a wide range of applications, from toys, to military surveillance to even hanging a flat screen television on the wall.

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RE: Robotic wall-climbers: From rescue missions to kid's toys
I'm wondering if the Robotic Wall-Climbers can be used as a space elevator? Could they be powered via something inside a 22,000 mile long nano carbon tube?
Posted by kgettys
20th Oct 2009
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RE: Robotic wall-climbers: From rescue missions to kid's toys
It is fantastic.Really innumearble applications can be thought of.Hatsoff to the innovator.
But a word of caution .As intelligence expands horizons of growth it also opens the doors of destruction.Hence the applicaion must be exclusively for constructive purposes.Gourishankar
Posted by gourisan53
28th Dec 2009
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vc ta fedendo
We have been living in Montana for the past 5 years and I am not supri sexy shop to find it #3 on the "worst" list. Considering a sexshop move to Idaho to escapthe high cost of living a low income in MT. There may not be a sales tax here but they get you if you own property!

Where does Idaho rank? We have been living in Montana for the past 5 years and I am not supri sexy shop to find it #3 on the "worst" list. Considering a sexshopmove to Idaho to escapthe high cost of living a low income in MT. There may not be a sales tax here but they get you if you own property!
Posted by filhomarques
21st Jul 2011
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Transcript

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Speaker: I'm Harsha Prahlad. I'm a senior research engineer at SRI International. And I'm working on smart material technologies including wall-climbing robots.

Music Generally my job is basically to invent things. I always knew I wanted to be involved in technology, and things that are at the intersection of multiple technologies really intrigue me, so I'm working right now on the intersection of material signs and electrical engineering. And what attracted me towards engineering is the ability to create something that didn't exist, conceptualize, and then build it and show it in the real world. Today, I'm going to show you a demo of a simple wall-climbing robot that we built that uses this technology called electro-adhesion and climbs on all kinds of walls in a versatile manner. And it's something we developed here from conceptual stages. And the idea is similar to taking a balloon and rubbing it on your hair and sticking it to the wall. So it's static electricity, except that we carry a power supply with us on the robot, and that sticks to the wall because the wall develops opposite charges as the ones that the robot uses. The applications range from toys to surveillance robots to inspection robots for structures that are dangerous or difficult to get into, like nuclear plants. So there's a wide range of applications for the robots. This technology would hold up things on the wall, like your plasma screens, your picture frames, your banners, and your kids would be playing with toys made out of these -- these materials.

Music

==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====

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