Robotic Tentacles with Three-Dimensional Mobility Based on Flexible Elastomers

1. Ramses V. Martinez¹, 
2. Jamie L. Branch¹,
3. Carina R. Fish¹, 
4. Lihua Jin⁴, 
5. Robert F. Shepherd¹, 
6. Rui M. D. Nunes¹, 
7. Zhigang Suo^2,4, 
8. George M. Whitesides^1,2,3,*

Article first published online: 7 SEP 2012

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201203002

Keywords:

• soft robotics;
• tentacles;
• pneumatic actuators;
• three-dimensional motion;
• composite materials

The remarkable flexibility and dexterity of the tongues of mammals and lizards, the trunks of elephants, and other biological muscular systems1 inspire new designs for actuators and robots.2 The octopus arm, for example, is a nonrigid structure that has a very large number of degrees of freedom (DOFs), the ability to bend in all directions, high dexterity, and astonishing capability for fine manipulation.3 In robotics, researchers have developed a variety of trunk-like manipulators using rigid structures and electric motors with cable tendons for actuation.4, 5 These hard robotic structures – structures based on multiple flexible joints connected by stiff links – are often heavy, and their control is complicated and expensive. Moreover, their underlying structures make it difficult to manipulate objects with parts of their arms other than their specialized end effectors.