Tentacle glove gives you ‘octopus powers’ so you can grab slippery wet objects

Posted on : July 15, 2022

As anyone who's dropped their shorts underwater can tell you, grabbing hold of a soggy object beneath the waves can lead to some slippery business.

Luckily, a team of researchers at Virginia Tech have created the Octa-glove. This smart glove is modelled on an octopus' tentacles and makes it easier than ever to grip objects underwater.

Just like an octopus, which uses thousands of suckers to stick to objects, the Octa-glove is covered in little rubber suckers which can cling onto flat and curved surfaces.

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These suckers are attached to a smart sensor which is able to detect objects and engage the sucking mechanism accordingly.

Assistant Professor Michael Bartlett, who led the research, said that octopus have advanced manipulation, sensing, and control compared to other creatures.

He said: "By merging soft, responsive adhesive materials with embedded electronics, we can grasp objects without having to squeeze.

"It makes handling wet or underwater objects much easier and more natural. The electronics can activate and release adhesion quickly. Just move your hand toward an object, and the glove does the work to grasp. It can all be done without the user pressing a single button."

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Bartlett hopes that the glove will make it easier for divers and underwater workers to do their work, with the device helping researchers pick up metal toys, curved spoons, flat objects, and even a 'hydrogel' ball.

The researchers say that the Octa-glove could one day be used in robotics or the manufacturing of wet objects.

The Octa-glove isn't the only sweaty-looking innovation that scientists have come up with lately.

In a world first this June, scientists announced they were able to grow living human skin on a robot finger that can heal itself when injured.

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