Event Location: NSH 1305
Bio: Mark R. Cutkosky is the Fletcher Jones Professor in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. He joined Stanford in 1985, after working in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and as a design engineer at ALCOA, in Pittsburgh, PA. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985. Cutkosky’s research activities include robotic manipulation and tactile sensing and the design and fabrication of biologically inspired robots. He has graduated over 40 Ph.D. students and published extensively in these areas. He consults with companies on robotics and human/computer interaction devices and holds several patents on related technologies. His work has been featured in Discover Magazine, The New York Times, National Geographic, Time Magazine and other publications and has appeared on PBS NOVA, CBS Evening News, and other popular media. Cutkosky’s awards include a Fulbright Faculty Chair (Italy 2002), Fletcher Jones and Charles M. Pigott Chairs at Stanford University, an NSF Presidential Young Investigator award and Times Magazine Best Innovations (2006) for the Stickybot gecko-inspired robot. He is a fellow of ASME and IEEE and a member of Sigma Xi.

Abstract: The adhesive system of the gecko has several remarkable properties that make it ideal for agility on vertical and overhanging surfaces. It requires very little preload for sticking and (unlike sticky tape) very little effort to detach. It resists fouling when the gecko travels over dusty surfaces, and it is controllable: the amount of adhesion in the normal direction depends on the applied tangential force. Moreover, it is fast, allowing the gecko to climb at speeds of a meter per second. The desirable properties of the gecko’s adhesive apparatus are a result of its unique, hierarchical structure, with feature sizes ranging from hundreds of nanometers to millimeters. Over the last several years, analogous features have been incorporated into various synthetic gecko-inspired adhesives, with gradually improving performance from the standpoints of adhesion, ease and speed of attachment and detachment, etc. In this talk we will explore recent developments to scale gecko-inspired directional adhesives beyond small wall-climbing robots to new applications including perching quadrotors and grappling space debris in orbit. These applications require scaling the adhesives to areas of 10x10cm or larger on flat or curved surfaces without loss in performance, and attaching in milliseconds to prevent bouncing. The solutions draw some inspiration from the arrangement of tendons and other compliant structures in the gecko’s toe.