Garbage in the universe with robots simulating gecko feet

Researchers at NASA and Stanford University in California have developed a robot inspired by gecko pins.

Researchers hope that this robot will be able to be used to collect debris and garbage in the universe.

According to NASA, about half a million fragments from used satellites are hovering over Earth orbit at 17,500km / h, causing great danger to astronauts, satellites as well as Tram Vu. ISS international pillar. However, cleaning up this garbage pile is a major challenge in the zero gravity environment of space.

Inspired by the grip of gecko feet, scientists at NASA and Stanford University have designed a new robot with adhesive pincers to collect and process this huge pile of garbage.

Robots are about the size of a toaster. It can capture, hold and move around large, small surfaces, even on flat and curved materials.

Gecko feet with millions of tiny hairs.

Scientists have relied on the biological mechanism of gecko to create a new material with strong adhesion and flexibility.

Geckos are reptiles that can stick to vertical walls easily thanks to the tiny hairs under the soles of the feet.

The force that helps the adhesive gecko is called Van der Waals. This force is formed when electrons are unevenly distributed around the nucleus of an atom, thereby creating an electric field with two positive and negative poles. At this point, the electric field will absorb nearby molecules, forming a temporary adhesive system between the gecko and any surface it touches.

By creating a kind of material surface with millions of "hairs" of extremely small size, the researchers simulated the mechanism of adhesion with Van der Waals forces similar to those of geckos.

Testing robots in a zero gravity environment.

The team successfully tested the robot in a gravityless environment at NASA's jet engine laboratory and the International Space Station ISS.

In the future, the team hopes, the robot will not only stop at the task of "capturing" garbage samples in space but could also become a useful tool for astronauts to repair, maintenance on ISS.