How Is this Man Climbing a Wall Like Spider-Man?
- Posted on June 13, 2012 at 6:56am by
Liz Klimas
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Demonstration of the Ascending Aggie's Personal Vacuum Assisted Climber. (Photo: YouTube screenshot)
A team of engineering students have designed a backpack system that lets the wearer scale a wall like Spider-Man (or Tom Cruise in the latest “Mission Impossible”) that won the Air Force Research Laboratory Design Challenge back in April, as well as a grant from the military to continue their development with it.
Business Insider reports the “Ascending Aggies” — that’s the team name of the Utah State University students — were tasked with figuring out a way to scale a wall without a grappling hook. What they came up with is a essentially suction pads and a vacuum backpack, coined the Personal Vacuum Assisted Climber. The contraption also has a support system to help the climber with their own weight in case they don’t have massive arm strength to hoist themselves up a wall.
The best part, according to Business Insider, is that it can be used on any vertical surface — glass, brick, wood, you name it. Watch this demonstration on a brick wall:
“The beauty of this solution was that it is relatively surface independent,” Dr. Steve Hansen said to Business Insider. He also pointed out you don’t need to use your hands on the suction cups at all times (thank’s to the support system), which allows “a soldier to use a weapon or other device while hanging from the PVAC.”
(Photo: Mike Anderson/Desert News)
To create the PVAC, the team was given $20,000 for materials and development and had nine months to get their creation to a demonstration-ready state. Utah State University has more from the team on the contraption and competition, which drew 16 other teams:
“I really liked this challenge because it was hard,” said mechanical aerospace engineering professor and team mentor Steve Hansen. “Coming up with a viable and practical solution really challenged the students.”
[...]
The Utah State University team was the only team to get all four military personnel to the top of the 90-foot wall.
“The logistics of this project became real very quick,” said team member Dan Aguirre. “Someone was actually relying on our design to climb a wall. You can’t get that in a textbook.”
AFRL Senior Design Scientist for Design Innovation Alok Das, agrees.
“AFRL gets the benefit of some very creative ideas that address a real military need, while the students get an opportunity to work under real-world conditions,” he said. “They gain experience in rapid prototyping and engineering a solution to a customer need, knowing that their design could truly make a difference.”
Desert News reports some of the interesting elements used in the prototype design, such as “batteries in an ice cream bucket” to power the vacuum, “foamy ends” on the pads to allow it to work on any sort of wall, and vinyl liner on the feet for traction.
(Photo: Mike Anderson/Desert News)
The Ascending Aggies received a $100,000 grant from the Air Force, in addition to their $50,000 prize winnings, to continue refining the device.
Some of the upgrades to the device will be to make it lighter, as the team told Desert News it was heavier than they had hoped.
This story has been updated to correct a spelling error.
(H/T: Fox News)
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Comments (37)
Black Manta
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 4:05pmWell…one can’t be a ninja with all that noise…
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on June 14, 2012 at 2:29amHope he doesn’t run into a Bees nest…..
Report Post »sarfralogy
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 2:41pmthe challenge was to design gadgets that would allow soldiers to safely and quickly ascend vertical surfaces. Here’s the first place solution, vacuum-powered grippers from USU known as the “PVAC” system. http://su.pr/1OWRan
Report Post »TheSitRep
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 1:56pm$20,000? WTF? I could build that for two Procare back pack vacs and crap I have in my garage.
Report Post »CanadaKen
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 2:13pmIf it was that easy you should have done it and got the $20,000.00 yourself.
Report Post »TheSitRep
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 1:18pmThe vacuum is an amazing thing. It is a function of surface area.
You can support a semi trailer just with the vacuum you could generate with your mouth if the area of the coupling device is sufficient.
A good vacuum cleaner has enough suction to collapse a super tanker’s hull if you sealed it off.
Report Post »Diablo4965
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 12:24pmI was hoping for a power failure!
Report Post »SquareHead
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 12:03pmHow many millions of $’s of government grant money did that take to come up with?
Report Post »alex22892
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 12:31pmIt said 20000 dollar budget. Events like therese are usually part of your senior year called a senior design project or a specific club. These projects and competitions are sponsored by private industries and maybe a branch of the armed forces. These projects and competitions help private industries and the armed forces find best engineers.
Report Post »desertspeaks
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:49amgood til your battery dies or the extension cord is cut or the power goes out, then what! Ladder!!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 11:18amIt SUCKS :) More akin to an Ant… and practical for Raids upon people’s residences!
Report Post »AuraStream
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 10:58amLast paragraph, Prize not Prise, spell corrector?
Report Post »broper
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 10:37amIt appears the yellow line hanging from above is both a safety line and the power cord. The suction pads have to be as large as they are – or – if made smaller they would have to create the same amount of holding power in a smaller area, which means a more powerful motor – and more energy consumed at a faster rate. Of course batteries can be used, but consider how heavy they would need be in order to have suffient stored energy to allow a climber to pull himself and the batteries up a wall. Their weight would add to total power needed to keep the climber and the batteries stuck to the wall. Interesting? Sure. Practical? Hardly.
Report Post »alex22892
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 12:36pmWith technology and funding from the armed forces it is very practical. It would be good for clinging on to the outside of a moving plane.
Report Post »Kenszen
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 1:56pmAccording to the article, it is battery powered.
Report Post »myway
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 10:12amI think it will get better! I hope the inventor is very wealthy. I could saving lives with this. Semper Fi
Report Post »Ironz
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 9:31amThere is a need and place for this and it will shrink in size and quieter as it is further developed.
Report Post »Krutch
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 9:06amAnd when ya get to the top floor, you can clean your apartment with it!
Report Post »DirkPitt
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 8:56amNzkiwi and Pdw are correct. This is just a start. Do you really think these guys thought, “oh, the enemy won’t notice the noise”?
Report Post »Timothy_Reid
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 8:45amWindow washers would get more use out of it. It is entirely too bulky, loud, and dependent on other means to keep it operating. The more complicated they make things, the easier it will be to stop it up. Still, with refining it would be fun to see how they address these problems.
Report Post »Ialmostforgot
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 8:22amI hope the batteries don’t go dead half way up the wall!
Report Post »HuckleberryFriend
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 8:21amTake that Mythbusters.
Report Post »bigdaddyt46
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 8:12amthe thing is way too loud for starters. if they can make it silent or stealth i could see it being used in the military
Report Post »nzkiwi
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 8:41amThat’s true, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
Report Post »pdw
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 8:04amThe great thing about new inventions is it opens more doors or ways these tools can be used. Who knows what all this will lead to and how far it will go to help in our future. People have been laughing at inventions since time began.
Report Post »Mr.Fitnah
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 7:58amPerfect for those sneak attacks on strongholds of the deaf and termenally distracted.
Report Post »Try this
http://www.atlasdevices.com/products
Mr.Fitnah
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 8:05amOh and to answer the question how is … It probably has something to do with the freaken huge suction cups & massively loud combat apparatus . Way to go roadrunner now set off the ACME stealth bomb.
Report Post »Selfreliance
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 8:59amGreat, as long as you already have a rope on the wall you’d like to climb.
Report Post »BlazeGlory
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 7:47amIf they want to design something really worthwhile, how about coming up with a method of allowing the country to climb out of the hell hole it has sunken into.
Report Post »Outlaw
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 2:46pmDone in 1776!!! It is called VOTING!!! Use it put someone in the office of the President and in Congress who will cut spending and ease regulations.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 7:08amditto…cool
Report Post »Todd P
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 7:06amAnother gadget I will never use.
Report Post »BlazeGlory
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 7:03amTheir invention sucks.
Report Post »ThePostman
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 7:54amAwesome comment!
Report Post »GeorgeWashingtonslept here
Posted on June 13, 2012 at 6:59amCool.
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