Biological complexity: how gecko toes cling (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, May 09, 2020, 05:01 (1660 days ago) @ David Turell

Clinging to vertical surfaces it takes soft hairy toes:

https://phys.org/news/2020-05-robot-heed-adjustable-hairy-toes.html

"As his previous research showed, geckos' toes can stick to the smoothest surfaces through the use of intermolecular forces, and uncurl and peel in milliseconds. Their toes have up to 15,000 hairs per foot, and each hair has "an awful case of split ends, with as many as a thousand nano-sized tips that allow close surface contact," he said.

***

"One puzzle, he said, is that gecko toes only stick in one direction. They grab when pulled in one direction, but release when peeled in the opposite direction. Yet, geckos move agilely in any orientation.

***

"To the researcher's surprise, geckos ran sideways just as fast as they climbed upward, easily and quickly realigning their toes against gravity. The toes of the front and hind top feet during sideways wall-running shifted upward and acted just like toes of the front feet during climbing.

***

"'Toes allowed agile locomotion by distributing control among multiple, compliant, redundant structures that mitigate the risks of moving on challenging terrain," Full said. "Distributed control shows how biological adhesion can be deployed more effectively and offers design ideas for new robot feet, novel grippers and unique manipulators.'"

Comment: How did this develop by trial and error? constant climbing and falling is not the answer. Only design fits.