Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor, New Scientist TV
It looks like a creation from Frankenstein's lab: a robot with tentacles modelled on an octopus. Complete with waterproof skin and suckers, it's the world's first entirely soft robot.
The first prototype, currently on display at the Science Museum in London, has six silicone legs designed for locomotion, while two specialised arms use artificial muscles, motors and sensors to detect and grasp objects. A spring-like structure inside these tentacles, made from a shape-memory alloy, can expand, contract or bend in any direction with changes in temperature.
Cecilia Laschi of Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy, and colleagues control their robot's behaviour via a centralised unit that mimics the central nervous system of an octopus. When an object is identified, the centralised control system coordinates the locomotion legs to move towards it, then activates the grasping arms once the octobot reaches its destination. A separate control system is responsible for the shape-shifting tentacles.
Another team, led by Richard Bonser from Brunel University in Uxbridge, UK, developed the skin that protects the electronics from seawater. This outer layer is made from a knitted nylon textile, which makes it durable and flexible, combined with a waterproof coating of silicone rubber. They also developed the sensors from two layers of conductive Lycra separated by a silicone washer. "The size and shape of the hole, and the thickness of the washer, determine how easily the layers will come into contact when touching an object," says Bonser. "This essentially creates a switch."
Although the robot is being developed for search and rescue missions on the seabed, the tentacles also have medical applications. A new project is looking at how they could help surgeons during minor operations.
If you enjoyed this post, check out another octopus robot that pumps dye in its body for camouflage or watch lizard-like legs help a robot walk on sand.
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