An octopus-like robotic arm that can bend and stretch could lead to new innovations in medical technology.
The device has been specially designed for surgical operations, and can be used to access hard-to-reach areas of the body and gently manipulate soft organs without imposing damage, the Institute of Physics reported. Researchers believe the device could reduce the amount of tools and incisions needed to perform certain surgeries.
"The human body represents a highly challenging and non-structured environment, where the capabilities of the octopus can provide several advantages with respect to traditional surgical tools," said lead author of the study Tommaso Ranzani. "Generally, the octopus has no rigid structures and can thus adapt the shape of its body to its environment. Taking advantage of the lack of rigid skeletal support, the eight highly flexible and long arms can twist, change their length, or bend in any direction at any point along the arm."
The device is made from two interconnecting identical modules. Each module can be easily controlled by inflating one three evenly spaced cylindrical chambers inside of the arms. The modules can also be controlled by exploiting a "granular jamming phenomenon" in which a flexible membrane is filled with a granular material, when a vacuum is applied to this membrane it increases the density and causes it to become stiff.
The researchers demonstrated the device could bend at angles up to 255 degrees and stretch to 62 percent of its original length. The stiffening mechanism proved to provide a stiffness increase from 60 to 200 percent.
"Traditional surgical tasks often require the use of multiple specialized instruments such as graspers, retractors, vision systems and dissectors to carry out a single procedure," Ranzani said. "We believe our device is the first step to creating an instrument that is able to perform all of these tasks, as well as reach remote areas of the body and safely support organs around the target site."
The findings were presented in IOP Publishing's journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.
