Gadgeteers Contest

Here's a notification of a contest that should appeal to the builders of the world:
NASA would like you to build a mechanical monkey capable of climbing a 1 Km rope.

Here's the catch: The "monkey" cannot carry any internal power source, and before you ask, extension cords aren't allowed either. What they're looking for is "beamed" power to be transmitted from the ground, to the climber.

LaserMotive is an entrant, and plans to use high-power laser beams to drive high-power solar cells.
This, however, isn't the end of it. The rope is to be supported by a helicopter, which implies that it will be subject to twisting and swaying in the wind.

Winning is worth $2,000,000.

The video from this should be fun to watch.