A gecko inspired fluid driven climbing robot

A motor-less fast climbing robot driven by fluid is introduced in this study. Designed with a simple five-linkage and one-piston mechanism, the robot has kinematics similar to a gecko´s motion. Due to bionic design of gecko, the robot has an advantage of climbing fast on flat surfaces with any slope angles, even overhanging surfaces. Applied with fluid driven and fluidic vacuuming, the robot can carry twice extra weight as its bodyweight on vertical climbing. As a result of motor-less design, the robot owns a unique benefit to get almost all power from the pressure of fluid working medium like water, compressed air, oil and etc., regardless of little energy supplied by internal batteries for low-power control circuit and solenoid valves. Especially for home application, the robot can get power from the pressure of tap water to finish a high-rise glass window cleaning by water-washing. This robot has potential applications to cleaning, fire lighting, painting, and repairing.