(Videos of the arm via the Octopus Project)
Have a contest an see innovation? How about have 10 million Euros for the contest winner, what do we get?
In 2009, the Octopus Project was started, reaching our globally with one solid aim, to create the "next generation of soft body robotics" by mimicking the abilities of real octopi. This is partially inspired by the quest to take robotics to the crushing depths of the ocean. Do this, and win 10 million Euros.
The latest from the project looks promising. From Cecilia Laschi, and her team at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, Italy comes a focus on a single robotic limb. In which a tube with woven fibers, contract when electrical current is applied. Contact sensors are placed on the surface of the tentacle, and the system will grasp an object placed in front of it.
Currently, the team is investigating the operation of all 8 mechanical limb at the same time. The control at the moment is based on a neural network, but that is the extent of their explanation.
The real issue is not the limbs, but how to house the central control system under great pressures. If it costs 10 million just for that to be a concoured objective, it will be worth it.
I think they may have a contender for realistic octopus here...
Eavesdropper
