A small wall climbing robot that fits in the palm of your hand.
JPL Robotics has been developing multiple adhesive mechanisms that enable robots to climb walls, stairs, and other obstacles. These adhesives include microspines, gecko-like adhesives, and electrostatic adhesives. Each works particularly well on particular surface types, but can be paired on a robot to enable it to climb a wide variety of surfaces. Each adhesive method is silent; the only sound that the robot makes is the soft noise of the DC motors. Palm sized platforms are especially exciting because of their inherent crash-proof behavior.