Monday, February 19, 2007

Utility Belts Anyone?

You know the gadget filled, compartmentalized belt made famous by Batman? Well, one of the tools it had was something that allowed the caped crusader to climb the side of a building at a pretty good pace. Up until now it's just been one of many parts of science fiction and comic book stories.

MIT student Nate Ball, and three other MIT students worked together on the "Powered Rope Ascender". It was an award winning entry in an MIT sponsored design competition. Apparently this little gem can climb at 10 feet per second.

While I don't doub't that would-be superheroes will be all over the thing, it's going to be marketed as a tool for firefighters, rescue workers, police and so forth.


Technorati Tags: , ,

No comments: