From Technology Review:
Today, at the International Conference on Field and Service Robotics here in Cambridge, MA, robotics professor and prolific inventor Shigeo Hirose, from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, presented a grappling-hook system designed to help robots get over difficult terrain.
Hirose says that he was inspired by Batman's grappling hook and the way that Spiderman stays in constant motion using a repetitive tether-and-swing action.
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