Posted 07.21.2011 at 4:25 pm
12 Comments
The Robo-Octopus Tentacle
Massimo Brega via Discovery News
We’ve written about tentacle-like robotic arms here before, but never one quite like this: a robotic tentacle that is soft and pliant enough to wrap around object but that can also stiffen to put a tight grip on things. But there’s another key difference between previous robotic tentacles and this one. Others are designed as manipulators for bomb disposal robots or as simple prosthetic grippers. This one is designed to be part of an actual robotic octopus.
The European Commission-funded group building the tentacle is tasked with also building a functioning robo-octopus that ostensibly could be used for a range of applications like underwater search and rescue and exploration. A team of British surgeons are even exploring the idea of a endoscopic tool based on the technology that turns from a pliable tool into a rigid one that could perform surgeries after wending its way through the body.
Related Articles
Tags
Technology, Clay Dillow, octopus project, octopus tentacles, robotics, robots, tentaclesThe Octopus Project (which happens to share a name with a fantastic indie-pop-tronica act--what’s up Austin!) has one 17-inch prototype working and it plans to deliver a full robotic octopus to the EC before its 2013 deadline. Just seven more tentacles to go.
More at Discovery News.
12 Comments
To comment, please Login.
Popular Tags
Technology
140 years of Popular Science at your fingertips.
Innovation Challenges
Popular Science+ For iPad
Each issue has been completely reimagined for your iPad. See our amazing new vision for magazines that goes far beyond the printed page
Download Our App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone or Android phone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
June 2012: Invent Your Own Anything
The 6th annual Invention Awards are here, from an inflatable tourniquet to a better lobster trap to spring-loaded hocket skates. This issue is all about the celebration of invention.
Plus: Making synthetic biology breakthroughs in a garage, building a constantly-moving ping-pong table, and a ridiculously overpowered barbecue.
Popular on Popsci
Most Commented
Technology
- Engineer Details Plans to Build a Real, Burj-Dubai-Sized Starship Enterprise in 20 Years
- Video: Amazing Coating For Bottles' Interiors Lets Ketchup Flow Like Water
- Magnetic Jet Injection Device Can Shoot Any Drug Through the Skin, No Needle Required
- 100-Year Starship Project Forges Ahead With First Round of Funding
- Russian Space Chief: 'We’re Talking About Establishing Permanent Bases' On the Moon
- The Dawn of the Commercial Space Age is (Probably) Happening This Weekend
- Living in the Future: Multitouch, or How I Learned to Love the Mac
- Backpack Radar Can Detect Ambushers Within 150 Acres
- Video: In Record-Breaking Parachuteless Skydive, Man Jumps 2,400 Feet Into a Pile of Boxes
- Would You Ride This Pencil-Shaped Capsule To Space?
Most Emailed
Technology
- NASA Says: Please Don't Touch Our Stuff When You Go to the Moon
- SpaceX Dragon Successfully Captured by International Space Station
- Backpack Radar Can Detect Ambushers Within 150 Acres
- This Summer, Take a Class on How to Design a Space Hotel
- Today in Good Reads: A Q&A With a Military Bioethicist
- Magnetic Jet Injection Device Can Shoot Any Drug Through the Skin, No Needle Required
- Video: In Record-Breaking Parachuteless Skydive, Man Jumps 2,400 Feet Into a Pile of Boxes
- Video: Paratrooping Roomba-Style Drone Concept Could Help Clean Oil Spills
- Snazzy All-in-One "Vancouver Poles" to Replace Ugly Urban Forest of Cell Towers and Cables
- Would You Ride This Pencil-Shaped Capsule To Space?
Most Viewed
Technology
- Living in the Future: Multitouch, or How I Learned to Love the Mac
- NASA Says: Please Don't Touch Our Stuff When You Go to the Moon
- SpaceX Dragon Successfully Captured by International Space Station
- Backpack Radar Can Detect Ambushers Within 150 Acres
- This Summer, Take a Class on How to Design a Space Hotel
- Today in Good Reads: A Q&A With a Military Bioethicist
- Magnetic Jet Injection Device Can Shoot Any Drug Through the Skin, No Needle Required
- Video: In Record-Breaking Parachuteless Skydive, Man Jumps 2,400 Feet Into a Pile of Boxes
- Video: Paratrooping Roomba-Style Drone Concept Could Help Clean Oil Spills
- Snazzy All-in-One "Vancouver Poles" to Replace Ugly Urban Forest of Cell Towers and Cables
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
keep this away from japan!!!no telling what theyd do with robotic tentacles! have u seen some that anime?
jokes aside this is awesome
that is pretty awesome.
Yet again, someone beat me to an idea of mine. That is, if the servos controlling the nylon aren't actually in the tentacle, but at the base, and I suspect this is how they managed it.
However, I notice it's underwater, as real tentacles are. Makes sense, as tentacles aren't efficient enough to function well in higher-gravity environments. They need some buoyancy to counteract it.
That said, it's too late to keep the concept away from the Japanese. It's almost a given that someone there is already working on a copy of this, or had a hand in its development...
It also wants a repulsorlift drive,eight eyes, and a cutting laser.
RE: Naughty use of robotic tentacles & anime
I got news for you, they already have VERY similar products for sale in japan, europe and north america.
they're located in the 'personal massager' aisle at your local adult novalty store :) ask your wife/mom/girl friend lol :)
cheers, eh
Keep it away from the Japanese lol
lol my fiance n i are regulars at the adult novelty shop, our friend works there. we've seen many silicone BOBs but none like this lmao the japanese would want it 50ft long and invading girls in schoolgirl outfits
Hey robot! Pull my finger!
I would like a video of this in action, I wonder how fluid the motion is?
"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before.".. Paul Dirac
Wow, I don't see where this can be useful in a more practical sense except for a museum attraction. what's next? (fishercapitalmanagementinvestment.com)
@claudettewasnon
"The European Commission-funded group building the tentacle is tasked with also building a functioning robo-octopus that ostensibly could be used for a range of applications like underwater search and rescue and exploration. A team of British surgeons are even exploring the idea of a endoscopic tool based on the technology that turns from a pliable tool into a rigid one that could perform surgeries after wending its way through the body."
They sound like pretty adequate reasons to me