Program Manager: Matthew S. Goodman, Ph.D.
The Z-Man program will develop biologically
inspired climbing aids that will enable soldiers,
without ropes or ladders, to scale vertical
walls constructed from typical building materials. Geckos,
spiders, and small animals are the inspiration
behind these climbing aids. These animals
scale vertical surfaces using unique systems
that exhibit strong reversible adhesion via
van der Waals forces or hook-into-surface asperities. Z-Man
seeks to build synthetic versions of those
biological systems, to optimize them for efficient
human climbing, and to use them as novel climbing
aids. The overall goal is to enable an
individual soldier using Z-Man technologies
to scale a vertical surface while carrying
a full combat load. |
