Well, almost -- a team of Utah State University engineering students has created its very own wall-crawling device, taking top honors in the Air Force Research Laboratory Design Challenge.

The Personal Vacuum Assisted Climber, or "Vertical Ascender," involves two powerful suction pads with soft ends that can conform to the surface of a wall. The pads are adhered by battery-powered vacuums in modified ice cream buckets that can haul at least 300 pounds.

The devices are "designed to operate for about 30 minutes, which was several times the expected climb time," said Steven Hansen, the Ascending Aggies' faculty adviser. "For the competition, each university had one hour to train the Special Forces climbers and to get four climbers to the top of the 90-foot wall."

Hopefully version 2.0 will be a little quieter, and have a cooler name.

[technabob]