Gecko-inspired robot has grippers that could clean up space junk

In space, grabbing onto things is hard. A new robot that uses grippers inspired by gecko feet could solve that problem, helping clear up the mess of debris that orbits Earth. The toaster-sized device can grip, hold onto and move around even large, smooth surfaces in microgravity, on both flat and curved objects. To do this, it uses a "dry adhesive" material created by Hao Jiang at Stanford University in California and his colleagues. "This ability to grab onto an object nearly anywhere, instead of needing a specific grapple point that may not even be there, is really advantageous," says Matthew Spenko at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.