Stanford University SpinybotII specs

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Not for saleUniversity research robot (IEEE ICAR 2005, IJRR 2006).

Not for sale (research)Not programmableResearchMicrospinesWall climbingDARPA

Not for saleShipping: Not for sale. Not available. A university research project.

Remote control: Not possible. A university research prototype.

Stanford BDML SpinyBot page ↗IJRR 2006 paper (preprint) ↗

Overview

Spinybot climbed concrete, stucco, brick and stone walls without suction or adhesive by catching tiny surface bumps with arrays of compliant steel microspines, an idea borrowed from insects and spiders. The first Spinybot used four spines per foot and managed only stucco and rough concrete, while SpinybotII's sixth-generation feet with ten independently sprung toes spread the load well enough to climb multi-story buildings and cling without power. The microspine feet were then transferred to the Boston Dynamics-led RiSE robot and later to perching drones, and the same lab went on to build Stickybot.

Specifications

Category	Crawlers, snakes & climbers · Climbers & inspection crawlers
Released	2005
Country	USA
Availability	Not for sale (research)
Programmability	No programmability
Built-in autonomy	None / scripted · Moves only when controlled, or plays preset motions
Best for	Professionals & labs
Vision sensors	Camera
Actuators	Hobby servos
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Arduino / ESP32 / microcontroller
Remote control	Not programmable
Size	About 58 cm long including tail, 0.4 kg with batteries and camera
Locomotion	Six legs in two alternating tripods, linkages ratchet the feet up the wall. Each foot has ten compliant toes with steel microspines, plus a long tail against pitch-back
Compute	40 MHz PIC microcontroller
Camera	Small wireless camera (20 g) in the tail
Sensors	None for control (open-loop gait)
Runtime	Not published (7.4 V, 340 mAh LiPo onboard)
Speed	2.3 cm/s climbing, can carry a 0.4 kg payload
SDK	None