Collaborate Disseminate
The flexible “fingers” at the tip of an elephant’s trunk have provided the inspiration for a versatile robotic gripper capable of picking up and holding onto a variety of objects both large and small – from an acupuncture needle to a thin metal ruler t… Continue reading Trunk-inspired robot gripper can pinch and grab objects small and large
Folks blessed with a soft touch seem to have no problem getting to grips with delicate objects, but it can be a tough ask for robots. Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have taken a strength-in-… Continue reading Robot tackles the knotty problem of grasping delicate objects
Folks blessed with a soft touch seem to have no problem getting to grips with delicate objects, but it can be a tough ask for robots. Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have taken a strength-in-… Continue reading Robot tackles the knotty problem of grasping delicate objects
Folks blessed with a soft touch seem to have no problem getting to grips with delicate objects, but it can be a tough ask for robots. Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have taken a strength-in-… Continue reading Robot tackles the knotty problem of grasping delicate objects
Imagine if there were a robotic fish that filtered microplastic particles out of the water as it swam. Well, now there is one, and it’s the physical version of the winning concept in the first-ever Natural Robotics Contest.Continue ReadingCategory: Rob… Continue reading Student-designed plastic-gulping fish wins bioinspired robotics contest
The tiny Pacific mole crab (Emerita analoga) has a unique talent, in that it can burrow straight down into the sand using its flexible legs. An experimental new robot copies that capability, and it could actually have some practical applications.Contin… Continue reading Crab-inspired robot uses fabric-stretching legs to bury itself
Clone Robotics is going to impressive lengths to make sure its “intelligent androids” will have some of the most human-like hands in the business, and watching the way their hydraulic “muscles” move under a transparent skin is absolutely hypnotic.Conti… Continue reading Clone gets deep into the uncanny valley with its lifelike robotic hand
While we’ve seen a number of robotic grippers inspired by various animals, US scientists have now taken a much more “direct” approach. They’ve devised a method of of using actual dead spiders to delicately grasp small objects.Continue ReadingCategory: … Continue reading “Necrobotics” tech uses spider carcasses as robotic grippers
Us humans aren’t so good at grasping things underwater, but new research reveals how nature could lend us a helping hand. Scientists have developed a glove specifically for these purposes that takes its design cues from an octopus, featuring rubber suc… Continue reading Electronic glove senses objects and sucks onto them like an octopus
Nature is capable of producing materials of incredible strength, with spider silk one of the most celebrated examples. In 2015, a group of scientists made a game-changing discovery in this area, demonstrating that the teeth of clingy molluscs called li… Continue reading Nature’s strongest known material inspires green alternative to Kevlar