A bit fancier than the Hall of the Presidents. New Scientist reports on a wheeled robot that uses fans to drive up walls:
The eminently mobile critter was developed by Paul Beardsley from Disney Research in Zurich and his colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). Their goal was to extend the capabilities of wheeled robots, which tend to be stumped by walls.
This prototype, which is about 60 centimetres long, is equipped with two propellers that provide thrust to allow it to make the transition from navigating the ground to driving up a wall. The rear rotor pushes the robot onto the wall while the front one gives it a pull upwards. “It was a shot in the dark but it works,” says Beardsley.
A carbon fibre baseplate and 3D-printed parts help keep the robot’s weight down to 2 kilograms.
Video at the link.