Design and analysis of a bionic adhesive foot for gecko robot climbing the ceiling

Abstract

Most of geckos can climb the ceiling smooth surface easily. This amazing ability in locomotion of geckos depends on the plenty setae of gecko's foot. Some researchers found the structure function of gecko's setae and produce different dry adhesive materials. We selected the dry adhesive material, which had mushroom-shaped adhesive microstructure (MSAMS), and tried to apply it in climbing ceiling experiment of a bio-inspired gecko robot with four legs. In this paper, a novel bionic adhesive foot was designed by studying on the structures and locomotion of gecko's foot. To apply novel bionic adhesive foot in ceiling locomotion successfully, the mechanical property of MSAMS with different structures of gecko-inspired robot was tested and analyzed. We selected the optimal structures of gecko-inspired robot and applied it in the ceiling locomotion. Bio-inspired gecko robot with the novel adhesive foot climbed the ceiling smooth surface stably, and it showed the rationality and feasibility of the bionic foot structure design.