Octopus secrets that inspire robotics – BBC

Victoria Gill BBC Science

• April 16, 2015

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This is the first time that we study in detail how the octopus move without a rigid skeleton.

With the help of high-speed cameras, a group of scientists revealed how octopuses coordinate their arms to swim or crawl.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem they recorded octopus to know exactly how these animals use their arms with almost unlimited flexibility when they move.

The recording showed the surprising simplicity of its movement. Choose which arm to use to propel themselves forward.

They have almost unlimited flexibility when they move.

The results were published in the journal Current Biology .

The study is the first detailed analysis of how the octopus manage to move without a rigid skeleton.

How these animals control and move their soft bodies is of interest to engineers who aspire to design robots inspired by biology.

” The company wants to build soft for medical purposes and rescue robots, “says Dr. Guy Levy, one of the researchers involved in the project.

How these animals control and move their soft bodies is of interest to engineers imitate.

Inspired by the arms of the octopus would not be limited by fixed joints says.

This might be useful for accessing narrow and hard to reach places perhaps to help people trapped in a collapsed building.

Choose one leg

To discover the secrets of efficient movements Octopus, Dr. Levy and Professor Benny Hochner animals recorded from a lower angle as they moved and analyzed its frame by frame movement.

Robots inspired by them could reach narrow and difficult places, perhaps to help people trapped in a building collapsed.

This detailed study showed that, thanks to shorten and lengthen, each arm pushes the body in one direction.

“So the octopus only must decide which arm to use to push, no need to decide which direction to push it, “Levy says.

Octopuses are able to move any of his eight feet in any direction.

“Find a simple solution to a potentially complicated problem. Simply choose which arm to use. “

And because these creatures are able to move any of its eight legs, are able to move in any direction, no matter what he takes in his way. Also, there is a rhythm or pattern to the undulating movement of his limbs.

The next step for scientists is to deepen the internal circuitry of octopus nervous system to find out exactly how this movement is coordinated.

These scientists consider it an amazing animal.

“Every time we try to understand something new about octopus, no new surprises,” says Dr. Levy.