A team of researchers led by Virginia Tech Assistant Professor Michael Bartlett have developed an octopus-inspired glove capable of securely gripping objects underwater.
A team of researchers led by Virginia Tech Assistant Professor Michael Bartlett have developed an octopus-inspired glove capable of securely gripping objects underwater. Their research was selected for the July 13 cover of Science Advances.
Humans aren’t naturally equipped to thrive in an underwater environment. We use tanks to breathe, neoprene suits to protect and warm our bodies, and goggles to see clearly. In such an environment, the human hand also is poorly equipped to hold onto things. Anyone who has tried to hold onto a wriggling fish will testify that underwater objects are difficult to grip with our land-dwelling fingers.
“There are critical times when this becomes a liability,” said Bartlett. “Nature already has some great solutions, so our team looked to the natural world for ideas. The octopus became an obvious choice for inspiration.”
Rescue divers, underwater archaeologists, bridge engineers, and salvage crews all use their hands to extract people and objects from water. Human hands with less capability to hold slippery things must resort to using more force, and an iron grip can sometimes compromise those operations. When a delicate touch is required, it would be helpful to have hands made for water.
Read more at Virginia Tech
Image: Chanhong Lee and Ravi Tutika test the Octa-Glove in the lab of Michael Bartlett. (Photo by Alex Parrish for Virginia Tech)
