Smart Soft Robots for Robotic Arms and Interaction
Octopus-inspired soft robots with embodied intelligence for adaptive grasping and human-machine interaction. Published in Science Robotics.
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Inspired by the octopus’s suckers and their neuromuscular hierarchical structure, Southern University of Science and Technology, in collaboration with the University of Bristol, has developed a soft robotic system with autonomous intelligence and multimodal perception capabilities. The design mimics the structure and sensory control mechanisms of octopus suckers, enabling artificial suckers to generate significant internal pressure changes during object grasping. These changes trigger response behaviors similar to octopus neural signals, achieving intelligent control of soft robot movements.
Notably, the study innovatively integrates adsorption, sensing, and intelligent control into a single fluidic architecture without relying on complex electronic control systems. This biomimetic technology enables efficient and flexible grasping and environmental perception, with broad practical applications in fields such as industrial robotic arms, safe human-machine interaction, implantable medical devices, and agricultural automated picking.
One reviewer described the team’s solution as elegant, innovative, attractive, and concise, deeming it worthy of publication in Science Robotics. Another reviewer fully endorsed the authors’ vision of achieving soft robot control through embodied intelligence, thereby reducing computational demands. The related paper, titled “Embodying soft robots with octopus-inspired hierarchical suction intelligence,” was published in Science Robotics and selected as the cover feature of the issue. Dr. Tianqi Yue, Associate Professor at Southern University of Science and Technology and Honorary Researcher at the University of Bristol, is the first author, with Professor Jonathan Rossiter from the University of Bristol as the corresponding author.