A team of researchers, led by Virginia Tech, has designed a glove for humans that mimics the tentacles of an octopus.
The work was published in advances in science.
A team of researchers led by Michael Bartlett of Virginia Tech has developed an octopus-inspired glove capable of safely gripping objects underwater.
The human hand is useless underwater
Humans were not meant to thrive in an underwater environment. We use tanks to breathe, wetsuits to protect and warm our bodies, and goggles to see clearly. In such an environment, the human hand is also not well equipped to hold things. Anyone who has tried to hold a fish knows that underwater objects are difficult to grasp with your fingers on land.
Rescue divers, underwater archaeologists, bridge engineers and rescue workers use their hands to rescue people or objects from the water. Metal pliers are often used for these underwater tasks. But when a delicate touch is needed, it would be helpful to have hands made for water.
a powerful bond
The octopus is one of the most unique creatures on the planet, equipped with eight long arms that can grasp countless things in an aquatic environment. Its tentacles are equipped with suction cups controlled by the animal’s muscular and nervous systems.
Recreation of the suction cups of an octopus tentacle. Courtesy VIRGINIA TECH
Shaped like a plunger tip, each suction cup has a powerful gripping ability. The wide outer edge of the suction cup seals to the object, muscles contract and relax the cupped area behind the edge to add and release pressure.
The octopus controls more than 2,000 suction cups in eight arms with chemical and mechanical sensors.
A project for humans
To design their glove, the researchers focused on reimagining the suction cups: rubber rods covered in soft, energized membranes. The design was created to perform the same function as an octopus’ suction cup.
The glove holding a small metal cart.
The glove carries micro-LIDAR optical proximity sensors that detect how close or far an object is. The suction cups and LIDAR were then connected, thus mimicking the nervous and muscular systems of an octopus.
The use of sensors to engage the suction cups also makes the system adaptable.
rocks and barnacles
In a natural environment, an octopus wraps its arms around boulders on rocks and surfaces, clinging to smooth shells and rough barnacles.
The research team was looking for something that would feel natural to humans and allow them to effortlessly pick things up, adapting to different shapes and sizes, like an octopus.
His solution was a glove with synthetic suction cups and tightly integrated sensors, a harmony of wearable systems that grip many different shapes underwater. They called it Octo-Glove.
In tests, the researchers tried a few different grip modes. To manipulate delicate and light objects, they used a single sensor. They found they could quickly pick up and drop flat objects, metal toys, cylinders, the double curved part of a spoon, and an ultra-soft hydrogel ball. By reconfiguring the sensor network to use all sensors for object detection, they were also able to pick up larger objects such as a plate, a box and a bowl. Flat, cylindrical, convex and spherical objects composed of hard and soft materials were fixed and lifted, even when the users did not hold the object by closing their hands.
Looking to the future, researchers envision the glove playing a role in soft robotics for underwater gripping, applications in user-assisted technologies and healthcare, and in manufacturing to assemble and handle wet objects.