The upper body has two steel hand-claws that grip a wall and a tail that swings.

As the tail swings the from side to side the hand-claws reach up, one hand at a time, pulling the body upwards.

When the tail swings it causes a shift in the center of gravity that raises the robots free hand, which then grips the climbing surface.

The ROCR is powered by four 9-volt batteries that are attached to the tail.

"It mimics a gibbon swinging through the trees and a grandfather clock's pendulum, both of which are extremely efficient," says inventor William Provancher, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah.

Future Use

"Climbing robots have focused on issues such as speed, adhering to the wall, and deciding how and where to move, but ROCR is the first to focus on climbing efficiently," says Provancher.

Sensors and cameras could be mounted on the robot to provide live feeds of inspections. It could look for things like failures in the concrete on dams, buildings and bridges.

Source: http://heml.eng.utah.edu