Flexible manipulator inspired by octopus: development of soft arms using sponge and experiment for grasping various objects

In this study, we focus on the intelligent behavior of an octopus and describe the development of a flexible manipulator. To realize the intelligent behavior, we employ sponges, rubbers and wires instead of electrical computers. The manipulator is controlled by the dynamics of the body such as the flexibility of the sponges, resilience of the rubbers and constraint by the wires. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed manipulator, we conducted experiment for grasping various objects. We confirmed that grasping behaviors similar to those of an octopus can be realized by the dynamics of the body without electrical computers.

[1]  B. Hochner,et al.  Control of Octopus Arm Extension by a Peripheral Motor Program , 2001, Science.

[2]  B. Hochner,et al.  Patterns of Arm Muscle Activation Involved in Octopus Reaching Movements , 1998, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[3]  Kazuyuki Ito,et al.  Reinforcement learning in dynamic environment: abstraction of state-action space utilizing properties of the robot body and environment , 2015, Artificial Life and Robotics.

[4]  Kazuyuki Ito,et al.  Hardware design of autonomous snake-like robot for reinforcement learning based on environment , 2009, 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[5]  Tamar Flash,et al.  How to move with no rigid skeleton? The octopus has the answers. , 2002, Biologist.

[6]  Yehong Zhang,et al.  Robot Manipulator Control and Computational Cost , 1988 .

[7]  Kazuyuki Ito,et al.  Autonomous Control of Octopus-Like Manipulator Using Reinforcement Learning , 2012, DCAI.

[8]  J. Gray.  The mechanism of locomotion in snakes. , 1946, The Journal of experimental biology.

[9]  Kazuyuki Ito,et al.  Snake-Like Robot for Rescue Operations — Proposal of a Simple Adaptive Mechanism Designed for Ease of Use , 2008, Adv. Robotics.

[10]  Aaas News,et al.  Book Reviews , 1893, Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal.

[11]  Kazuyuki Ito,et al.  Autonomous control of a snake-like robot utilizing passive mechanism , 2006, Proceedings 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2006. ICRA 2006..

[12]  Kazuyuki Ito,et al.  Development of autonomous snake-like robot for use in rubble , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR).