Adhesives inspired by gecko feet had already been around since 2014, but recently, Mark Cutkosky's team at Stanford created robotic gripper hands using the material. Geckos are able to stick to surfaces because of their minuscule hairs that are able to get so close to the wall molecules that the electrons from the gecko's hair molecules have an electromagnetic attraction to the wall molecules. The significance of this lies in the fact that these large grippers can be used to grasp objects in space- where chemical and suction adhesives are ineffective. With this ability, these gecko grippers could be used to collect space trash and help objects in space stick to its target.
Moth's eyes were another inspiration for engineers. Since these insects must be able to see in the dark but can't have light reflecting on their eyes for predators to see, they have anti-reflective nanostructures on their outer corneas. Physicist Shin-Tson Wu, a professor in the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida, developed a film with similar properties. It allows the user to have ten times more readability under a clear sky and prevents the device's battery to drain because the screen does not have to increase brightness to fit the environment. They also happen to be scratch resistant and self-cleaning!
The next inspiration we have here is the squishy octopus. Their flexible, indefinite bodies being able to move just about anywhere inspired roboticists to create soft, autonomous robots. The current difficulty engineers are facing is "replacing rigid components like batteries and electronic controls with analogous soft systems and then putting it all together" (Robot J. Wood, roboticist at Harvard University). They are making use of microfluidic logic circuits which power the robot with a chemical reaction, but are still working on advancing this bot. As machines become more prevalent in our everyday lives, safety is a primary concern. Having a nonrigid robot would make them much less likely to cause damage, so they could work alongside humans. Moreover, their fluid structure would allow them to take on jobs such as pipe inspections and rescue missions.
- Sarah
