Disney’s research arm has been quietly churning out impressive, occasionally unnerving experiments for some time now, and its latest is a particularly inspired bit of engineering: a small, four-wheeled robot with the uncanny ability to climb up walls.
The robot, VertiGo, was created through a partnership between Disney Research Zurich and the university ETH Zurich. By rolling up to a wall and adjusting two propellors attached to it, the robot can climb up and continue moving at a surprisingly brisk pace. “By transitioning from the ground to a wall and back again, VertiGo extends the ability of robots to travel through urban and indoor environments,” the researchers write about the project. “The robot is able to move on a wall quickly and with agility.”
It’s not clear exactly what Disney might want the concept for, but it’s a neat enough trick that it’s not hard to see it showing up in some kind of consumer product down the road.
Credits: The Verge