Artificial suckers inspired by those of an octopus could allow robots to delicately grasp objects that they are usually too clumsy to hold. The technology has been demonstrated in a wearable glove for humans, but researchers say similar devices could one day be used in machine limbs.
Octopuses have fine control of around 2000 suckers on their eight limbs, allowing them to dexterously pick up and manipulate objects. Michael Bartlett at Virginia Tech says this ability inspired him to create tiny rubber suckers tipped with flexible membranes that can be activated to create suction and stick to objects.
His team created a wearable glove with a sucker and a micro-LIDAR sensor on each fingertip. The sensor detects the proximity of objects, while a microcontroller triggers the sucker when it is close enough to stick to the object. The prototype simply holds on to an object for a set number of seconds before releasing it, but Bartlett says that a more sophisticated control mechanism could be used so that a robot or human operator could pick up, manipulate and release objects at will.
n tests, the glove was able to pick up a diverse range of objects underwater, including metal toys, a delicate hydrogel ball and the curved portion of a spoon. But the team says that the system is equally capable in air, unless an object is so rough that a proper seal can’t be formed by the sucker.
“The glove was a natural starting point for us. I thought it would be neat to have octopus-like abilities on your hand,” says Bartlett. “But we could also make a [robot] arm which is more like a tentacle – we could actually make it very biomimetic.”
Bartlett is keen to stress that suckers will not be a universal approach for all types of robotics, but says that they will offer unique abilities that fit certain applications well. He imagines that they could be used in manufacturing where fragile, wet or smooth objects are involved or even in some areas of healthcare.
A team of researchers led by Virginia Tech's Michael Bartlett have developed an octopus-inspired glove capable of securely gripping objects underwater. Their research was selected for the July 13 cover of Science Advances. Humans aren't naturally equipped to thrive in an underwater environment.
If you’ve ever held a fish, you know that people are terrible at grabbing wet, slippery surfaces. In fact, some scientists think that our fingers get pruney just to manipulate objects underwater.
In a new study, researchers invented a glove that mimics octopus suckers to improve our grip. The device’s suction activates automatically and can pick up objects of all shapes and sizes. It could help rescue divers grab victims, archaeologists retrieve artifacts and engineers improve underwater construction.
“It makes handling wet or underwater objects much easier and more natural,” says co-author Michael Bartlett of Virginia Tech in a press release.
The “Octa-glove” grips and releases on demand and produces adhesive pressures upwards of 60 kPa. It switches on and off within 50 milliseconds, making it faster and more adaptable than other manually controlled adhesive devices.
“The glove does the work to grasp. It can all be done without the user pressing a single button,” says Bartlett in a press release.
Tiny LIDAR sensors sense when an object is close and trigger suction. It’s similar to technology that some cars use to navigate obstacles and warn drivers of potential collisions. When an object is close enough, it pulls the cup upwards like a toilet plunger and engages the suction, creating negative pressure.
The sensor-suction system mimics the nervous-muscular control of an octopus, the researchers say. “By merging soft, responsive adhesive materials with embedded electronics, we can grasp objects without having to squeeze,” Bartlett says in a press release.
Just one sensor-suction unit is enough to lift small objects like toys and spoons. But octopuses can have over 2,000 suckers across all their arms. When all of them are engaged, it’s difficult to loosen their grip. Similarly, the Octa-glove can also deploy multiple suckers at once. With several suction cups, it can pick up larger objects like plates, boxes and bowls. It’s extremely adaptable to different surfaces: hard or soft, round or flat.
“These capabilities mimic the advanced manipulation, sensing, and control of cephalopods and provide a platform for synthetic underwater adhesive skins that can reliably manipulate diverse underwater objects,” co-author Ravi Tutika of Virginia Tech says in a press release.
The researchers say that this is just the start of octopus-inspired wearables. In the future, they could swap LIDAR sensors with chemical or mechanical ones to only grab specific types of objects. And it’s not limited to underwater applications. The device could be used in healthcare to help people with poor grip strength, for example, or in manufacturing to assemble wet objects. The researchers hope that 330 million years of evolution could provide solutions to today’s technological problems.
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