A Robot Uses Suction-Cup Tracks to Drive Across Walls and Ceilings

A robot with rows of suction cups arranged like tracks can stay attached while driving from walls onto ceilings. As it moves, cups at the front attach one after another while those at the rear peel away in sequence.

The passive cups maintain adhesion without a vacuum pump. The robot traveled on glass, wood, metal and painted surfaces, and the roughly 3.5 kg machine also climbed while towing a 7.94 kg payload. The work was carried out by University of Michigan researchers Andrew Nguyen, Mingyuan Li and Daniel Bruder.