Program Manager: Matthew S. Goodman, Ph.D.
The Z-Man program will develop biologically inspired climbing aids that will enable an individual soldier to scale vertical walls constructed of typical building materials without the need for ropes or ladders. The inspiration for these climbing aids is the way geckos, spiders, and small animals scale vertical surfaces by using unique biological systems that enable strong reversible adhesion using van der Waals forces, or by hooking into surface asperities. This program seeks to build synthetic versions of those material systems and then utilize them in a novel climbing aid optimized for efficient human climbing. The overall goal of the program is to enable an individual soldier using Z-Man technologies to scale a vertical surface while carrying a full combat load.
|
