Shear adhesion makes use of microstructures to activate adhesive forces between a surface and the gecko's toes when shear force is applied in a certain direction. That's force applied in parallel direction to the surface. Removing shear or pushing in the opposite direction will deactivate the adhesion. I'm only getting this info from an engineering paper by Hawkes et al. about gripper design, so it may be a bit different with geckos.
ZZ9_Plural t1_j0nx8bi wrote
Reply to Geckos use Van Der Waals forces to stick to walls, but how do they let go? by houstoncouchguy
Shear adhesion makes use of microstructures to activate adhesive forces between a surface and the gecko's toes when shear force is applied in a certain direction. That's force applied in parallel direction to the surface. Removing shear or pushing in the opposite direction will deactivate the adhesion. I'm only getting this info from an engineering paper by Hawkes et al. about gripper design, so it may be a bit different with geckos.