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Octopus Tentacle Serves as Inspiration for Gripper

posted by on Tuesday April 04 2017, @03:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the my-spider-sense-is-tingling dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

German industrial automation company Festo has come up with a bionic gripper, OctopusGripper. The company's focus areas include pneumatic, servo-pneumatic and electric automation technology and the Octopus Gripper is certainly drawing attention in the tech press.

The name is quite apt. The gripper has been modeled on an octopus tentacle. Its advantage lies in its ability to grip softly but securely. What is more, the OctopusGripper can pick up and hold a variety of different shapes. A video shows it taking canister-shaped objects, a ball, plastic water bottle and glass successfully.

[...] Well, not to be confused with the real creature with its water-based muscle, this is a Festo design where, as Samantha Cole in Motherboard explained, "compressed air bends the robot tentacle and controls its pliability. A combination of passive and vacuum-powered suction cups provides grip."

The soft silicone structure is pneumatically controlled. With compressed air applied, the tentacle bends inwards and wraps around an item. The team followed the natural model to come up with their design: two rows of suction cups are on the inside of the tentacle—small suction cups and larger suction cups.

-- submitted from IRC

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  • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday April 04 2017, @03:59PM (6 children)

    by LoRdTAW (3755) on Tuesday April 04 2017, @03:59PM (#488669) Journal

    Japan.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 04 2017, @04:49PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 04 2017, @04:49PM (#488689)

    Grip her right in the pussy.

    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 04 2017, @05:19PM (2 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday April 04 2017, @05:19PM (#488709) Journal

      You know...that actually looks like it could feel really good, as long as there weren't any sharp edges or barbs or suckers on it. Tentacles don't penetrate, though; they sort of pour themselves into whatever they're getting into. I know they're supposed to be phallic stand-ins but if anything they're more like a cross between a finger and a tongue.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday April 04 2017, @05:37PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday April 04 2017, @05:37PM (#488723)

        It's all fine and tingly until the squid moves on to cunnilingus.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 04 2017, @05:42PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 04 2017, @05:42PM (#488728)

        It's called The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, not The Nightmare.

        And then there were eels [wikipedia.org].

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 04 2017, @08:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 04 2017, @08:47PM (#488817)

    You laugh, but in 10 years every household in Japan will have at least one multi-tentacled robot-butler. Waifu AI costs extra. Also their futuristic 99% automated economy will eat our lunch.

    /jk

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 05 2017, @05:39PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 05 2017, @05:39PM (#489237)

    Japan is jealous...KYAAAAAA!!!!!