Scientists create octopus-inspired ‘super strong’ robotic suction cups

The scientists were inspired by the way natural organisms, such as octopuses, can stick to rocks with their suckers.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:05 We know that in nature there's so many soft body organisms, for example,

00:09 octopuses and snails and some kind of fishes.

00:12 They can adaptively suck onto irregular surfaces, for example,

00:18 the rocks on seashore and some kind of shells.

00:21 So we get the bio-inspiration from these creatures.

00:26 [MUSIC]

00:33 Obviously, previous suction cups cannot adhere to complex surfaces

00:37 and highly curved or rough surfaces.

00:40 So this kind of suction cup addresses this problem.

00:44 So it can strongly adhere to complex surfaces, for example,

00:49 rocks, wood and some unstructured objects.

00:53 [MUSIC]