Snail-inspired robot climbs walls

The robot’s sliding suction mechanism enables it to slide on water, mimicking a snail’s mucus that also acts as an adhesive. 

The study, published in Nature Communications, shows a novel way for robots to scale walls easily, potentially changing how surfaces such as blades of wind turbines, hulls of ships, aircrafts and glass windows of skyscrapers are inspected. According to the team, these features also endow sliding suction with great potential for future applications in robotic fields, including industrial gripping, climbing, outdoor and transportation. 

Snails can stably slide across a surface with a single high-payload sucker, offering an efficient adhesive locomotion mechanism for next-generation climbing robots. The critical factor for snails’ sliding suction behaviour is mucus secretion, which reduces friction and enhances suction. 

In a statement, lead author Tianqi Yue, a research associate at Bristol University’s School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, said: “People know that snails have a stable adhesive sliding behaviour, even though they are carrying a heavy payload, in this case a shell.