The underwater glove puts the abilities of the octopus in the hands of humans
Octa-glove takes an underwater Virginia Tech playing card from Michael Bartlett’s lab. Credit: Virginia Tech
A research team led by Michael Bartlett of Virginia Tech has developed an octopus-inspired glove that can safely grip objects underwater. Their research was selected for the July 13 cover Science Advances.
Humans are not naturally equipped to thrive in an underwater environment. We use tanks to breathe, neoprene clothing to protect and warm us, and glasses to see clearly. In such an environment, human hands are also not well equipped to hold things. Anyone who has tried to hold a wriggling fish will testify that underwater objects are difficult to grip with our land-dwelling fingers.
“There are critical moments when this becomes mandatory,” said Bartlett, an assistant professor in the department of mechanical engineering. “Nature already has some great solutions, so our team looked to the natural world for ideas. Octopus became an obvious choice for inspiration.”
Rescue divers, underwater archaeologists, bridge engineers, and rescue crews all use their hands to get people and objects out of the water. Human hands with less ability to grip slippery objects must use more force, and metal grips can sometimes be dangerous to the operation. When a subtle touch is required, it is helpful to have hands made for water.
It’s the complement that Bartlett and his fellow researchers are trying to build. His team at the Soft Materials and Structures Lab adapts biological solutions to new technologies made of soft materials and robotics.
Draw inspiration from strong adhesion
Octopuses are one of the most unique creatures on the planet, equipped with eight long arms that can hold a lot of things in an aquatic environment. In a beautiful blend of practicality and intelligence, these arms are covered with suckers that are controlled by the marine animal’s muscular and nervous system.
Each sucker, shaped like a plunger tip, contributes a strong grabbing ability. After the wide sucker outer rim makes a seal with an object, the muscles contract and relax the cupped area behind the rim to add and release pressure. When multiple suckers are involved, it creates a strong adhesive bond that is difficult to remove.
“When we see an octopus, the adhesive definitely sticks out, quickly activating and releasing the adhesion on demand,” Bartlett said. “However, equally interesting is that the octopus controls more than 2,000 suckers in eight arms by processing information from a wide variety of chemical and mechanical sensors. The octopus truly brings together a tunability of adhesion, sensing, and control to manipulate underwater objects.”
Octa-glove retrieves various underwater objects from Michael Bartlett’s lab. Credit: Courtesy of Virginia Tech
Putting inspiration into action
To design their glove, the researchers focused on reimagining the sucker: a rubber rod that fits and is covered with a soft, actuated membrane. The design is made to perform the same function as an octopus sucker—enables a reliable attachment to objects with light pressure, ideal for attaching to flat and curved surfaces.
Having developed the adhesive mechanism, they also needed a way for the glove to sense objects and trigger adhesion. For this, they brought in Assistant Professor Eric Markvicka of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who added a series of micro-LIDAR optical proximity sensors that detect how close an object is. The sucker and LIDAR are then connected via a microcontroller to pair the object sensing with the sucker, thereby mimicking the nervous and muscular systems of the octopus.
Using sensors to engage the sucker also makes the system adaptable. In its natural environment, octopuses wrap their arms around cliffs on rocks and surfaces, clinging to the smooth shells of rough barnacles. The research team also wanted something that felt natural to humans and allowed them to pick things up with ease, adapting to different shapes and sizes as octopuses do. Their solution is a glove with synthetic suction and a tightly integrated sensor, wearable system harmony that captures various shapes underwater. They call it Octa-glove.
“By combining a soft, responsive adhesive with embedded electronics, we can grip objects without having to squeeze them,” says Bartlett. “It makes handling wet or underwater objects much easier and more natural. Electronics can activate and release adhesions quickly. Just move your hand toward an object, and the glove does the job of gripping. It can all be done without the user pressing down. single button button.”
The researchers tested the Octa-Glove in Michael Bartlett’s lab. Credit: Alex Parrish for Virginia Tech
Wearing gloves
In testing, the researchers tried several different gripping modes. To manipulate delicate and light objects, they use a single sensor. They found that they could quickly pick up and drop flat objects, metal toys, cylinders, double-curved spoon parts, and ultrasoft hydrogel balls. By reconfiguring the sensor network to utilize all sensors for object detection, they can also grip larger objects such as plates, boxes and bowls. Flat, cylindrical, convex, and spherical objects consisting of hard and soft materials are attached and lifted, even if the user is not holding the object with their hands closed.
“This capability mimics the advanced manipulation, sensing, and control of squid and provides a platform for a synthetic underwater adhesive skin that can reliably manipulate a wide variety of underwater objects,” said postdoctoral researcher Ravi Tutika. “This is certainly a step in the right direction, but there is a lot we need to learn both about octopuses and how to make integrated adhesives before we reach nature’s full gripping capabilities.”
Looking ahead, the researchers envisage gloves playing a role in soft robotics for underwater gripping, applications in user-assisted healthcare and technology, and in manufacturing for assembling and manipulating wet objects.
This work was done with Sean Frey, ABM Tahidul Haque, Elizabeth Krotz, Cole Haverkamp, and Chanhong Lee, on behalf of Virginia Tech, Iowa State University, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The octopus-inspired robot can grip, move and manipulate various objects
Sean T. Frey et al, Octopus-inspired adhesive skin for fast, intelligent underwater adhesion, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq1905. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq1905
Provided by Virginia Tech
Quote: Underwater glove puts octopus abilities in human hands (2022, 13 July) retrieved 14 July 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-07-underwater-glove-octopus-abilities-humans.html
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