THE octopus is the inspiration for a project to build the world’s first soft-bodied robot (see “Robot octopus will go where no sub has gone before”). They have no skeleton, just a hard beak, which means they can squeeze themselves into the smallest spaces. They are extremely smart too. Given their extraordinary abilities, the only wonder is that it’s taken so long to come up with the idea of a fully fledged roboctopus. With other marine biomimetic projects on the go, such as the robotuna, jellyfish and manta ray, the robo-aquarium can only be a matter of time.
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ
Explore the latest news, articles and features

Physics
Photons behave very strangely if you try to cut them
¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ

Mathematics
Aim high but don't shoot for the moon, mathematicians advise
¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ

Technology
Horror video game gets its creepiness from a quantum computer
¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ

Mind
We're becoming more individualistic and it's affecting our love lives
¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ
Popular articles
Trending ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ articles
1
Glaciers in the 'roof of the world' have suddenly started melting
2
Pancreatic cancer halted by virus injection in three patients
3
Embryos made without sperm or eggs reveal why many pregnancies fail
4
Does gravity create reality? A shocking path to a theory of everything
5
Q-Day could destroy bitcoin – and our retirement savings
6
A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it really began
7
Mathematical AI helps researchers crack 50-year-old problem
8
PCOS has been officially renamed PMOS, and it’s a momentous move
9
How a radical new view of life could reveal its origin – and aliens
10
How I used psychology to come back from the worst year of my life