The team, based at Bristol Robotics Laboratory, studied the structures of octopus biological suckers, which have superb adaptive suction abilities enabling them to anchor to rock.
In their findings, the researchers show how they were able create a multi-layer soft structure and an artificial fluidic system to mimic the musculature and mucus structures of biological suckers. Suction is a highly evolved biological adhesion strategy for soft-body organisms to achieve strong grasping on various objects. Biological suckers can adaptively attach to dry complex surfaces such as rocks and shells, which are extremely challenging for current artificial suction cups. Although the adaptive suction of biological suckers is believed to be the result of their soft body’s mechanical deformation, some studies imply that in-sucker mucus secretion may be another critical factor in helping attach to complex surfaces, thanks to its high viscosity. Their multi-scale suction mechanism is an organic combination of mechanical conformation and regulated water seal.
Read the full University of Bristol news item
Paper: ‘Bioinspired multiscale adaptive suction on complex dry surfaces enhanced by regulated water secretion’ by Tianqi Yue, Weiyong Si, Alex Keller, Chenguang Yang, Hermes Bloomfield-Gadêlha and Jonathan Rossiter in PNAS.