New 'electric skin' allows tiny drones to stick to walls and ceilings like high-tech geckos.
April 14, 2026
Original Paper
Soft Electroadhesive Feet for Micro Aerial Robots Perching on Smooth and Curved Surfaces
arXiv · 2604.09270
The Takeaway
Using stretchable pads and a 4.8 kV switch, these micro-robots can instantly latch onto or release from smooth, curved surfaces like glass or pipes. This breakthrough allows autonomous swarms to 'hibernate' on any surface to save power, turning ordinary architecture into a landing pad for long-term surveillance or inspection.
From the abstract
Electroadhesion (EA) provides electrically switchable adhesion and is a promising mechanism for perching micro aerial robots on smooth surfaces. However, practical implementations of soft and stretchable EA pads for aerial perching remain limited. This work presents (i) an efficient workflow for fabricating soft, stretchable electroadhesive pads with sinusoidal wave and concentric-circle electrodes in multiple sizes, (ii) a controlled experimental comparison of normal and shear adhesion under in