A protein-coated micro-sucker patch inspired by octopus for adhesion in wet conditions

Meloni, Gabriella; Tricinci, Omar; Degl’Innocenti, Andrea; Mazzolai, Barbara

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-72493-7

Cited by 29 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 49 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, as suggested by results in Figures 5 and 6, the use of a composite materials that consists of a nonstretchable backing (i.e., fabric or a thin layer of stiff elastomer) covered with a soft elastomer has a potential to further improve both suction force and adaptability on a broad range of rough surfaces. Also, the soft robotic architecture of the proposed SSG can easily be combined with various functional interfaces developed in previous works, such as electrostatically adhesive surfaces, [6,7,45] crack trapping surfaces, [46,47] and microsuction surfaces, [48,49] to produce better performance in achieving robust and strong suction. Furthermore, characterization in gripping performance under various dynamic loading conditions will be an interesting topic, as a fast pulling speed can either reduce or increase the gripper's payload capacity by inertia of the object or viscoelasticity of the gripper body.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive Self‐Sealing Suction‐Based Soft Robotic Gripper

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While suction cups prevail as common gripping tools for a wide range of real-world parts and surfaces, they often fail to seal the contact interface when engaging with irregular shapes and textured surfaces. In this work, the authors propose a suction-based soft robotic gripper where suction is created inside a self-sealing, highly conformable and thin flat elastic membrane contacting a given part surface. Such soft gripper can self-adapt the size of its effective suction area with respect to the applied load. The elastomeric membrane covering edge of the soft gripper can develop an air-tight self-sealing with parts even smaller than the gripper diameter. Such gripper shows 4 times higher adhesion than the one without the membrane on various textured surfaces. The two major advantages, underactuated self-adaptability and enhanced suction performance, allow the membrane-based suction mechanism to grip various three-dimensional (3D) geometries and delicate parts, such as egg, lime, apple, and even hydrogels without noticeable damage, which can have not been gripped with the previous adhesive microstructures-based and active suction-based soft grippers. The structural and material simplicity of the proposed soft gripper design can have a broad use in diverse fields, such as digital manufacturing, robotic manipulation, transfer printing, and medical gripping.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive Self‐Sealing Suction‐Based Soft Robotic Gripper

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, their performance against rough substrates were not reported so far. [ 23–25 ] Therefore, the mechanism of large cavity deformation and its role in adhesion to rough substrates remains unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinspired Underwater Adhesion to Rough Substrates by Cavity Collapse of Cupped Microstructures

Wang

Hensel

2021

Adv Funct Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Underwater or wet adhesion is highly desirable for numerous applications but is counteracted by the liquids in the contact which weaken intermolecular attraction. The problem is exacerbated in conjunction with surface roughness when liquids partially remain in grooves or dimples of the substrate. In the present study, a cupped microstructure with a cavity inspired by suction organs of aquatic animals is proposed. The microstructures (cup radius of 100 µm) are made from polyurethane using two‐photon lithography followed by replica molding. Adhesion to rough substrates is emulated experimentally by a micropatterned model substrate with varying channel widths. Pull‐off stresses are found to be about 200 kPa, i.e., twice atmospheric pressure. Evaluation of force–displacement curves together with in situ observations reveal the adhesion mechanism, which involves adaptation to surface roughness and an elastic force induced by the collapse of the cavity that holds sealed contact with the substrate during retraction. This new microarchitecture may pave the way for next generation microstructures applicable to real, rough surfaces under wet conditions.

show abstract

“…[117] In this regard, several bioinspired solutions came from the study of the abilities and characteristics of cephalopods. In Figure 2b-i,ii we report some example of octopuses' bioinspired soft grippers, [118,119] that exploit the flexibility of the soft material and the integration of suction cup elements [120][121][122][123][124] to firmly grasp objects in confined, constrained, [53] or open environments. [125] In such examples, bioinspiration allows to solve some critical issues, such as coiling without damaging the organic or inorganic support [60,126] (Figure 2c), not interfering with the surrounding ecological environment, [127] or avoiding obstacles in simulated rescue situations [128,129] (Figure 2d).…”

Section: Bioinspired Soft Robotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Perspective on Cephalopods Mimicry and Bioinspired Technologies toward Proprioceptive Autonomous Soft Robots

Giordano

Carlotti

Mazzolai

2021

Adv Materials Technologies

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

scientific community. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Regardless, every time a living being reveals novel adaptive and dynamically reactive mimicry behavior, it inspires and fosters futuristic and unexpected technological outcomes. [8][9][10][11][12] At the biological level, the visual crypsis is the ability of a species to resemble the surroundings by matching the coloration and the geometrical patterns of the habitat. In this sense, a living being can control its appearance optically (thanks to arranged and optimized structures at the mesoscopic scale, by means of pigmentation, or emissive elements) and morphologically (it can show wrinkles and textures on the body to evade detection or observation). [13][14][15][16][17][18] Both these mechanisms are characterized by a time response that ranges from milliseconds to hundreds of seconds. In nature, several species take advantage of cryptic abilities, as, e.g., in cephalopods, [7] crustaceans, [19] reptilians, [1,20,21] insects, [22,23] birds, [24,25] shells, [26,27] plants, [28,29] among many. The biotic color changing and body patterning relate to reproductive, communicative, and defensive and/or predatory strategies. Unfortunately, the nervous or central control-chain system that steers these behaviors in animals and plants, is still somehow fogged for scientists. [7,[30][31][32] A complete knowledge about their central information process systems, can open to astonishing developments in many scientific branches, from neurobiology [33,34] to quantum biology. [35] Undoubtedly, the most debated case of study in the natural world are cephalopods, which not only are highly evolved and specialized in fast adaptive color changing displays, but also are able to actuate their skin to generate 3D patterns, when exposed to specific mechanical, thermal, optical, or chemical stimuli. Soft muscular arrangements, [36][37][38] spatially distributed and expandable absorbing components (namely chromatophores), [39,40] iridescent elements (namely irido phores), [41,42] and bright white scatterers (namely leucophores) [43] are responsible for textural, postural and color changing. Moreover, octopuses are a remarkable intelligent species, able, for example, to open a jar or avoid predators in the order of seconds. [44] Thus, cephalopods are usually regarded as a perfect example of embodied intelligence, [45] thanks to the symbiosis between their body's mechanics and morphology, and the distributed sensory neuro-motor-control system. Their "learning", "mechanical" and "material intelligence" will be our lodestars along this review, resulting in a fascinating connection between Octopus skin is an amazing source of inspiration for bioinspired sensors, actuators and control solutions in soft robotics. Soft organic materials, biomacromolecules and protein ingredients in octopus skin combined with a distributed intelligence, result in adaptive displays that can control emerging optical behavior, and 3D surface textures with rough geometries, with a remarkably high control speed (≈ms). To be able ...

show abstract

A protein-coated micro-sucker patch inspired by octopus for adhesion in wet conditions

Cited by 29 publications

References 49 publications

Adaptive Self‐Sealing Suction‐Based Soft Robotic Gripper

Adaptive Self‐Sealing Suction‐Based Soft Robotic Gripper

Bioinspired Underwater Adhesion to Rough Substrates by Cavity Collapse of Cupped Microstructures

A Perspective on Cephalopods Mimicry and Bioinspired Technologies toward Proprioceptive Autonomous Soft Robots

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About