Gecko's Grip Aids Super-Tape Development

Popular Mechanics

A gecko's foot is like a perfect Post-it: As the lizard walks up a wall, its feet stick fast and peel off smoothly, never slipping and -- since no viscous glue is involved -- never losing grip. Now, a team at Ohio's University of Akron has produced a new kind of "gecko tape" that mimics the thousands of hairs on the gecko's footpad, each of which splits into hundreds of smaller nanohairs. The tape uses bundles of setae -- strong but flexible carbon nanotubes -- which, like the gecko hairs, create an electrostatic attraction with a surface.

Other researchers have also aped the gecko -- Stanford University's Stickybot, for example, climbs using feet covered with tiny angled setae hairs. But these previous attempts have never matched the strength and reusability of the original. One square inch of the new tape supports 50 pounds, making it four times stronger than a gecko's foot. No commercial plans have been announced, but the team envisions the tape being used in space.


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