Safety Information ............................................................ Inside front cover
Table of Contents ............................................................................................. 1
Kit Contents ....................................................................................................... 2
MODELS
Geckobot .................................................................................................................. 3
How to operate the geckobot ............................................................................14
Industrial robot arm .......................................................................................... 16
Suction tow truck ............................................................................................... 18
Suction gun ........................................................................................................... 20
Inch worm ............................................................................................................. 22
Smartphone holder ............................................................................................ 23
Ellipsograph ......................................................................................................... 24
Publisher’s Information .................................................... Inside back cover
TIP!
At the top of each model as
sembly page, you will find a r
ed bar:
›››
It shows how difficult the m
odel’s assembly will be:
easy
medium
hard
› › › TABLE OF CONTENTS
Geckobot
1
HOW DO SUCTION CUPS WORK
Suction cups are devices that use air pressure or
water pressure to stick to hard, smooth surfaces
where a partial vacuum can be created.
A suction cup has a cup-shaped surface made
of a flexible material, like silicone, rubber, or
plastic. When this cup is pressed against a hard
surface, the air inside the cup, between the cup
and the surface, gets pushed out.
Air particles
get pushed out, creating a void, or
vacuum
,
inside the cup. The regular atmospheric air
outside the cup remains the same, containing
many more air particles per unit volume of
space than inside the cup. All these air particles
are constantly flying around through the air and
hitting things. Each one makes a tiny impact.
The sum of all these tiny impacts is
air pressure.
There are a lot more air particles per
unit volume on the outside of the cup
than on the inside, so the air pressure is
a lot higher on the outside than on the
inside. This difference in air pressure is
what keeps the suction cup stuck to the
surface.
Over time, the material of the suction
cup returns to its original shape. The
forces pulling the suction cup back into
its original shape are ultimately
stronger than the air pressure keeping
the suction cup stuck to the surface.
When the suction cup returns to its
original shape, the low pressure inside
the cup is released, so the suction cup
will no longer stick to the surface.
TIP!
The anchor pin lever
In the box, you will find a little yellow tool
called the anchor pin lever.
1. End A of the anchor pin lever makes it easy
to remove anchor pins from the frames.
2. End B of the tool can be used for prying up
and separating other parts.
1
2
A
B
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Suction cup
Air particles
Surface
Unstuck suction cup:
Pressing suction cup down:
Stuck suction cup:
Low pressure