Vertical ascender makes everyone a Spiderman

I know, there is going to be a Spiderman movie reboot on the silver screen later this summer, and before you start thinking that getting a spider exposed to radioactivity to bite you is going to endow you with superpowers (I personally think that doing so will result in you being sent to the hospital, with a very painful bite to remember), you might want to wait a little while longer for this team of engineering students at Utah State University to perfect what could very well be the future “Spiderman” device. Known as the “vertical ascender”, it will make use of vacuum suction pads so that one is able to quickly scale walls in excess of 90 vertical feet. Does it not remind you of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, as he scaled the highest building in the world in a nerve gripping scene?

The group of students has called themselves the “Ascending Aggies,” and came out tops among 17 universities that participated in the annual Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Design Challenge. Having said that, a modification of this invention will most probably see military use first, having received a $50,000 grant in the process. Hopefully future versions will be more refined, smaller, lighter, and of course, be totally silent.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Military
Tags: military