Wall climbing robots inspired by the feet of gecko

The feet of gecko are not sticky to touch but contain many tiny hair, that when pressed against a surface stick to it due to Van der Waals forces developed by shear stress. Van der Waals forces develop between electric dipoles.

Some cool current applications are wall climbing robots which attach to the walls by pressing this material and robots developed by NASA to clear debris and old satellites in outer space.

As the feet of gecko are not sticky to touch, their adhesion is durable and does not wear off. They can even attach to rough or dirty surfaces as the hair can easily clean themselves due to the small surface area of their tips.

Some applications that I could think of were, using this adhesive material (made from carbon nanotubes, plastics and silicon) and attaching it to the bottom of a drone. The drone can squeeze the material attached with spring (to ensure equal load distribution) to develop shear force which allows the object to stick with it and squeeze again to let it go. This application could also be utilized at the bottom of a helicopter to load and unload their payload. Hope you learned something!

My TKS Application journey

My journey I applied for The Knowledge Society in February 2022. Initially, I had opened an application but then decided not to go for it, thinking that I wasn't smart enough to get in. Mia Nguyễn was my application advisor who mailed me about my incomplete application, asking me if there was anything I needed help with. There were few interview slots remaining and she asked if they should close my application. I opened her mail and began typing an apology letter, telling her that I would not be applying. As I finished the letter, my finger hovered over the send button. I sighed, selected my mail and pressed backspace. What was the harm in trying? I typed out a quick message, asking her to hold my slot. I opened MS Word and started on the essays I needed and stayed up all night, only to submit them a few hours before the deadline. In late April, I was accepted into the 10 month Global Virtual Program as a TKS Innovator with considerable financial aid. Unfortunately, my finan...

The summer of the beautiful white horse: Analysis, Summary and Theme

The summer of the beautiful white horse. : An Analysis This short story written by William Saroyan is part of the CBSE Class 11 Snapshots NCERT Syllabus. While high school students would certainly benefit from the articles, literary enthusiasts are encouraged to join the discussion of how the author uses diction, literary terms and tone to portray the meaning of through the text. Nostalgia marks the tone of narrator in the opening line of the sentence, reminiscing over how the world used to be magnificent and delightful. The sentence “life was still a delightful and mysterious dream” aptly describes how the narrator perceived the world as a nine year old. The theme of exaggeration and awe is repeatedly seen throughout the story through the character of uncle Khosrove and the narrator’s admiration of the horse. So awe stricken was Aram that he could not believe his eyes when his “crazy” cousin Mourad brought a beautiful white horse outside the window of his room around daybr...

How do animal cells move? | Motor proteins and cytoskeleton in cellular biology

Cells move around the body using cellular extensions of the plasma membrane like cilia and flagellum. They take the help of fibres outside the cell to provide anchorage. These extensions are made of microtubules, sliding against each other to produce a back and forth motion. These microtubules are a part of the cytoskeleton which will be discussed shortly. Within the cells, motor proteins attach to the receptors on organelles and use their ‘feet’ to ‘walk’ them along the fibers of cytoskeleton to their required location. Source: Campbell Biology, 12th edition These motor proteins consume ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) which is the source of energy at the cellular level. It is the energy currency of the cell as it provides readily releasable energy due to breaking of bonds between second and third phosphate groups. Now that we have understood the mechanism for cell locomotion, let’s understand more about the cytoskeleton and how its elements aid in the process. Exis...

The Modern Fable

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