Your drone could soar through the sky, but could it also perch and climb walls like this quadrotor can? Probably not. The robot is called SCAMP, and it is the brainchild of Stanford’s Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation Lab.
Although SCAMP is an aerial device, it boasts the ability to scale walls like a bug and perch like a bird. A drone such as this can go place where terrestrial robots and people can’t, particularly rubble in the wake of an earthquake. Whereas most ‘copters can last just a few minutes in air before needing to be recharged, SCAMP’s unique ability to perch allows it to operate for hours or even days on end, gathering data or performing communication tasks while stationary. It can even recover from climbing failures, as well as take off when it’s ready to fly again. It does all of this outdoors, using only onboard sensing and computation.
SCAMP can climb thanks to microspines comprise of hardened steel barbs on suspensions and directional adhesive based on gecko feet. The robot is equipped with a high torque-density servo for making long steps up the wall and a smaller servo for motion towards and away from the wall. The quadrotor has spindly legs, which enables it to reposition itself to get a better view, or in some cases, better reception.
The climbing mechanism is on top of the robot, so the rotors can actively press SCAMP to the surface. Beyond that, the team implemented a long tail to serve as a pivot point, which can reliably push itself onto the wall using aerodynamic forces. When ready to perch, SCAMP flies toward the wall rear-first until impact is sensed by its onboard accelerometers. Once that impact is detected, the rotor thrust is turned to maximum in a manner that pretty much guarantees the climbing gear ends up pressed against the wall. Once the vibrations of the impact diminish, the rotors turn off and the microspines engage to begin climbing. When on its way up a concrete building or stucco structure, the bot can recognize if it starts to fall and the rotors turn back on to press the bot against the wall, stopping the fall.
Pretty amazing, right? You can read all about SCAMP here, and see it in action below!