Zhendong Dai Professor Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface Engineering Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Nanjing, CHINA

Biomimetics on gecko locomotion: New view point of adhesive mechanism and gecko-mimicking robot for space applications

Geckos amazingly move on various surfaces, because the setae on toe generate adhesive force, and the hairs, composed of keratin, may get charged easily. We set up a measuring system, for the first time, to detect the reaction forces and contact charge simultaneously by freely moving geckos. As a result, contact charge, along with contact forces, was determined when geckos climbed freely, in the magnitude range from a few tenth of nano-coulomb to a few nano-coulomb. Based on this idea, we modify the carbon nanotube array, to increase the adhesive force, and use these adhesive materials to developed gecko-mimicking robots for space applications.