Octopus Project creates robotic tentacle, full octobot on the way

The robotic tentacle, created as part of the Octopus Project (Photo: Massimo Brega)

Some living organisms feature an unusual muscle structure, which allows them to control the stiffness of their body, or various parts of it. Examples include elephants' trunks, our tongues, and octopus tentacles. Researchers working on the Octopus Project have so far successfully designed a robotic tentacle, with the ultimate aim of creating a full-bodied robotic octopus.

Why an octopus? According to the researchers, it has a number of characteristics that are interesting from an engineering point of view, such as an infinite number of degrees of freedom, various bending possibilities, controllable stiffness and high dexterity.

Such an octobot could be used in underwater search, rescue and exploration, Discovery News reports. "The applications we envisage are all the applications where you send the robot into very small spaces for exploration tasks but also for rescue under debris," stated team member Cecilia Laschi. British surgeons are also reportedly looking into applying the technology to an endoscope.

The working robotic tentacle prototype is approximately 17 inches (43 cm) long. The arm is fashioned from a central steel cable with a number of nylon cables attached to it, all of which are encased in a silicone skin. It's capable of grasping objects via manipulation of the cables, which allows it to stiffen around a target.

It's modeled after a real Mediterranean octopus.

The Octopus Project is an interdisciplinary initiative funded by the European Comission, and coordinated by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna educational institute in Pisa, Italy. The full robotic octopus with eight arms is scheduled for completion by the project's deadline in January 2013.

自動翻譯僅供參考

章魚計劃創造的機器人觸手 Octopus項目創建機器人觸手

機器人觸手全octobot，創建??為八達通項目的一部分（攝影：馬西莫布雷加）

一些生物體具有不尋常的肌肉結構，這使得它們能夠控制身體的剛度或其各個部分。例如大象的鼻子，舌頭，章魚觸角。研究章魚項目的研究人員目前已經成功地設計了一種機器人觸手，最終目的是創造一個完整的機器人章魚。

為什么章魚？根據研究人員，它有一個數字，是從上看，一個工程點有趣如無限多的自由度，各種彎曲的可能性，可控剛性和高靈巧特性。

這種octobot可在使用水下搜索，營救和探索，探索新聞報道。 “我們設想這些應用程序都在這里，你在廢墟下派機器人到非常小的空間進行探索任務，而且也為救援申請，說：”小組成員張柏芝Laschi。英國外科醫生據說也正在研究應用該技術的內窺鏡。

工作機器人觸手原型是大約17英寸（43厘米）長。臂從中央鋼纜塑造與若干附加到它尼龍電纜，所有這些都裝在一個硅氧烷皮膚的。它能夠通過操縱電纜，這使得它變硬圍繞目標抓的對象。

這是一個真正的地中海章魚藍本。

八達通項目是由??歐洲Comission資助的一個跨學科的倡議，并通過Scuola協調Superiore的圣安娜在比薩，意大利的教育機構。