These scientists have developed a glove that allows you to capture underwater objects such as octopuses

Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a glove that allows divers to better understand when, for example, rescuing someone or rescuing a shipwreck.

The eight gloves are inspired by the tentacles of an octopus and are covered with robotic lollipops with sensors that can tell how far away an object is. When the sensors detect a nearby surface, they will send a signal to the control unit which will activate the adhesion of the absorbent.

Rescue divers, underwater archaeologists, bridge engineers and rescue crews will benefit greatly from this.

“There are critical moments when this becomes a liability,” said Michael Bartlett, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Nature already has some great solutions, so our team scoured the natural world for ideas. Octopus being an obvious choice for inspiration.

“When we looked at the octopus, we found that the adhesive actually came off, activated quickly and released the stickiness on demand,” said Bartlett.

What is interesting, however, is that the octopus controls more than 2,000 lollipops through eight arms by processing information from various chemical and mechanical sensors.

“Octopus really combines stickiness tuning, sensing, and handling control over underwater objects.”

In the Soft Materials and Structures lab, the team developed their own straw which contains a rubber rod that is compatible with a soft membrane.

Their method was published today in the magazine scientific progress.

Eric Markvika of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln then added a set of miniature LIDAR optical proximity sensors that detect how close an object is.

The LIDAR sensor and sensors are then connected via a microcontroller, thereby simulating the nervous system and muscles of the octopus.

Just move your hand towards an object, and the gloves will do the job of gripping it. All this can be done without the user pressing a button.

In their testing, they found that they could pick up flat objects, metal toys, cylinders, double curved parts of spoons, and super-fine hydrogel balls and quickly release them.

Postdoctoral researcher Ravi Tutika said: “These advanced processing, sensing and control capabilities simulate cephalopods and provide a platform for an underwater adhesive synthetic skin that can reliably handle a wide variety of underwater objects,” said postdoctoral researcher Ravi Tutika.

“This is certainly a step in the right direction, but there’s a lot we need to learn about octopuses and how to make integrated adhesives before we reach nature’s full potential.”

In the future, the researchers hope the gloves will play a role in holding underwater robots, user-assisted technology, healthcare, and wet-object manufacturing.

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