Robots get modernized and are on the news on a very frequent basis. Waalbot is as impressive as most of its colleagues with electricity brains. As presented by the Carnegie Mellon University, the Waalbot specializes in climbing zones inaccessible to humans. Its small size confers a great advantage over its competition, being able to move in tighter places.

Waalbot is a tripod using dry adhesion on walls and ceilings to advance or back off. The design with three legs uses a rotatory function allowing a certain freedom of the movements. Elastic bendings and passive joints are given the responsability to provide the necessary forces for it to climb walls using dry adhesion as described earlier.

The robot is guided by using a remote PIC control. The whole is done entirely wireless with no problems. The small sophisticated machine is even able to circumvent certain obstacles thanks to its concept with legs. One could compare it with a spider, only made from metal. It is rather surprising to realize how much Waalbot can be fast and quite agile.

  Michael Bertiaux