Study on the Reversible Adhesion Inspired from Gecko Foot Hairs

Abstract

There are several natural systems related to adhesion and adhesives in the field of biomimetics. Focusingon gecko adhesion, one of its remarkable features is reversibility of the adhesion. Although geckos adhere to awall using molecular interaction, they cannot walk or run without detaching their foot easily from the surface.Understanding the mechanism of easy detachment is important to achieve gecko-like reversible adhesion.In this paper, detachment mechanism of gecko adhesion is investigated. Using simplified adhesion model ofgeckos’ foot hairs, directional dependency of adhesion force at detachment is theoretically derived. Then, itis clarified that anisotropy of adhesion force is generated by the hair structure. Additionally, gecko-inspiredadhesive devices are created and the anisotropy is experimentally verified. Finally, manipulation system usingthe adhesive device is proposed and pick-and-place of a glass plate is succeeded.