Gecko-Inspired Window Washing Robot is Powered Entirely by Water

(Sorry: too late to be read, noprocrast and comment posting timeout conspired against me.)

I think the interesting part of this is the gait mechanism which is unaddressed in the article.

A little experimentation with my fingers on the desktop confirms a single actuator to move the legs between two geometries, and the ability to turn suction on and off to the pads is sufficient to climb walls. (Turning probably requires that you can individually activate the pad suctions and have some flex available.)

    time ====>	     	      	      	      	 repeat

                                    -      O       O
                                     \      \       \
                                      x      x       x
                                      |\     |\      |\
                -       O       O     | O    | O     | -
               /       /       /      |      |       |
              x       x       x       | -    | O     | O
             /|      /|      /|       |/     |/      |/
    O       O |     O |     - |       x      x       x
     \        |       |       |      /      /       /
      x     - |     O |     O |     O      O       -
      |\     \|      \|      \|
      | -     x       x       x
      |        \       \       \
      | O       O       O       -
      |/
      x
     /
    -

   odd     toggle   all     even   toggle   all    odd
   only    position suck    only   position suck   only
   suck    actuator         suck   actuator        suck

...and it has a battery. To power the electronics and wireless - is it remote-operated? So no brains either.

Its not a robot at all then. Its a servo.

if battery weight is a problem, can't they attach a external power cord to it ? I mean it's not like the water pressure is coming from inside the robot.

powered by "water pressure"