Electroadhesive Robots for Wall Climbing

The project uses an electrically controllable adhesion technology known as electroadhesion to enable robots to climb with speeds of up to 1 body length per second.

These electroadhesive robots have a wide range of applications including wall-climbing robots for military and first responders, inspection robots, service robots, sensor positioning and re-positioning, toys/hobby robots, long-term perching of micro air vehicles, human wall climbing for future projects, and 3-dimensional mobility for other applications.

Using a power supply connected to compliant pads situated on the moving robot, the technology induces electrostatic charges on a wall substrate and works on conductive and non-conductive substrate, smooth or rough materials, and through dust and debris. It has robust clamping to common building materials such as glass, wood, metal, concrete, etc with clamping pressures in the range of 0.5 to 1.5N per square cm of clamp.

Induced electrostatic charges from on-board battery power are used by the clamps which also use the same clamp geometry. The pads are scalable to different dimensions and for specific mission requirements, the speed, payload, surface requirements, and directional preferences are customizable. The non-damaging nature of electroadhesion is one of its advantages.

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