Gecko-inspired mess-free super-adhesive can stick a TV to the wall
50 replies, posted
[url=http://www.gizmag.com/gecksin-adhesive/21504/]Source[/url]
[release]Everyone knows geckos have extraordinary powers of adhesion, able to clamber up vertical windows with remarkable ease. With the "Geckskin", a team of scientists have replicated the effect to produce a flat, index-card sized piece of material capable of carrying a 700-pound (318-kg) load - easily enough for a flatscreen television. It can be removed with ease and leaves no unpleasant oomska. And interestingly, it doesn't work as you might think.
Hair today, gone tomorrow
You probably know that a gecko's toes have millions of microscopic hair-like setae that exploit van der Waals interactions that cause attraction and repulsion at the molecular level. Past attempts to replicate gecko superpowers have tended to focus on these setae as a means of making materials adhere, such as adhesive tapes, stickybots and wall-climbing robots. However, the team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst discovered that setae are not necessary to solve the problem, being but one part of a gecko's climbing toolkit.
The game's afoot
The research team is mainly comprised of polymer scientists, but also includes biologist Duncan Irschick who has been observing and thinking about geckos' climbing ability for more than 20 years. Taking a more holistic approach to the problem, the team realize that a gecko's skin, bones and tendons work in unison to remarkable and sticky effect.
The Geckskin is a stiff woven fabric incorporating a soft adhesive pad, woven into a "synthetic tendon" like that of a gecko's foot. "Our design for Geckskin shows the true integrative power of evolution for inspiring synthetic design that can ultimately aid humans in many ways," said Irschick. The team is aiming to further improve the Gecksin by looking at the wide variation evident in the evolution of gecko feet.
Effective
But the [B]DARPA-funded project[/B] is already showing impressive results - with the team demonstrating a 16-square inch piece of material holding up a 42-inch TV - a mere fraction of the 700 pounds it's capable of carrying (the weight of an iNuke Boom, though I don't fancy the Geckskin's chances of withstanding the turning force of an object that size). Impressively, the carrying capacity apparently holds true for glassy surfaces. The Geckskin can apparently be removed (presumably peeled away) with "negligible effort" and can be "reused many times with no loss of effectiveness" which would seem to imply that in its present form the Geckskin does not continue to work at full strength indefinitely.[/release]
DARPA has their dick in everything thesedays
edit: wait why does it think im on xp
I met a guy working on this with a team as part of his masters research
sounded pretty interesting, it's nice the see the research is finding a range of applications
[IMG]http://www.platformnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Gex.jpg[/IMG]
[B]Stickin' my way to the top! [/B]
they'd really have to ensure that this is 100% safe, because it kind of sounds too good to be true: you can peel it off w/o any kind of effort, but it can hold like 300KG
The only surface Geckos can't stick to are non-stick frying pans.
The more you know etc.
[QUOTE=Pelican;34769390]they'd really have to ensure that this is 100% safe, because it kind of sounds too good to be true: you can peel it off w/o any kind of effort, but it can hold like 300KG[/QUOTE]
if you don' peel it off the right way [i]it will kill you[/i]
That's awesome.
That's good but. what if the paint doesn't hold on your wall using this?
[QUOTE=J!NX;34769655]That's good but. what if the paint doesn't hold on your wall using this?[/QUOTE]
oh damn, well then i guess all the scientists have to put everything down and go home now.
how do you peal it off if you cant get behind your tv? Your tv will be on that wall forever.
why is it that DARPA are able to produce things 100x faster than any other organisation?
Cash.
[QUOTE=Uber|nooB;34769681]oh damn, well then i guess all the scientists have to put everything down and go home now.[/QUOTE]
I double taped speakers to my wall, weeks later, paint failed, speaker fell. :v: Tape still having a death grip on the paint.
Imagine trying to take the TV off of your wall. I know you could obviously use a board, but I KNOW some people will do it in the wall.
[QUOTE=Pace.;34769723]why is it that DARPA are able to produce things 100x faster than any other organisation?[/QUOTE]
Cause they give absolutely no fucks about anything other than producing the best, most off the wall shit, that any human mind can come up with.
They made sprayable black ice, on a fucking [i]whim[/i].
[QUOTE=Pace.;34769723]why is it that DARPA are able to produce things 100x faster than any other organisation?[/QUOTE]
Extreme amounts of cash, they even said they wouldn't mind getting a budget cut since they have way more cash than what they need.
[QUOTE=Pace.;34769723]why is it that DARPA are able to produce things 100x faster than any other organisation?[/QUOTE]
they have so much money that when they find any super amazing projects that are completely awesome they basically just throw money at them
I can see an application for this on doorstoppers.
attach them to your hands and climb on the walls?
All that came to my mind was bad news for Jim
[IMG]http://www.gonewiththetwins.com/pages/features/2009/images/toptenraunchiestcomedymoments/americanpie2.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Electrocuter;34769839]Extreme amounts of cash, they even said they wouldn't mind getting a budget cut since they have way more cash than what they need.[/QUOTE]
Yet it's only like 3 billion a year
[editline]20th February 2012[/editline]
yup 3.2 billion
[editline]20th February 2012[/editline]
to give an example of how little that is, when you account for interest, the iraq war cost about [B]one thousand[/B] DARPAs for a year
[QUOTE]unpleasant oomska[/QUOTE]
what
[QUOTE=Pace.;34769723]why is it that DARPA are able to produce things 100x faster than any other organisation?[/QUOTE]
Being very very scared of what might happen if they stop, I'd imagine.
DARPA has an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Definitely don't want to put that on somebody's seat
Fuck hanging shit on the walls, I'm going to be spider man.
[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;34769829]Cause they give absolutely no fucks about anything other than producing the best, most [b]off the wall[/b] shit, that any human mind can come up with.[/QUOTE]
:v:
This seems cool, I mean you can peel it off easily, but I don't think you want your HDTV on your wall when the paint won't hold even a lb.
[QUOTE=mR_oWnAGe;34771456]Fuck hanging shit on the walls, I'm going to be spider man.[/QUOTE]
Quick. Call these people up and tell them to put this shit on gloves and boots.
[editline]19th February 2012[/editline]
I mean as long as you don't weigh 700 pounds, it would work.
[QUOTE=silentjubjub;34772128]Quick. Call these people up and tell them to put this shit on gloves and boots.
[editline]19th February 2012[/editline]
I mean as long as you don't weigh 700 pounds, it would work.[/QUOTE]
Well shit, there goes my hopes and dreams.
[QUOTE=Darth_GW7;34769316][IMG]http://www.platformnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Gex.jpg[/IMG]
[B]Stickin' my way to the top! [/B][/QUOTE]
Holy shit I haven't seen that in over 10 years.
It's crazy how the whole surface area to volume ratio thing works out in nanotechnology, especially with forces which are ordinarily as weak as van der Waals forces.
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