Robots have an unfortunate rep as cold, heartless machines designed with the express purpose of crushing, destroying or otherwise permanently rearranging the makeup or anything smaller or weaker than themselves.  A newly released video however, casts the mechanical beings in a different light, one which shows that they are capable of immense finesse, so much so that they could pick a flower without damaging it at all.

The groundbreaking robotic tentacle, developed by Harvard Univesity’s Whitesides Research Group, is made of flexible plastic that holds three air channels. The channels, which run through the entire limb, are pumped with air in different measures to achieve the desired result – bending, curling, gripping and wrapping. The two standout features of this design are the tentacle’s gentle touch and its full 3D range of movement. Unlike many of its predecessors, which were limited to curling in one direction, the tentacle’s trio of air channels allow it be manipulated to curl or bend in almost any direction. Furthermore, its touch is so gentle that it can curl around a flower without damaging it at all or, as the video shows, wrap around a paper horseshoe without so much as bending a single edge.

The research team also looked at taking the design further by adding a video camera, a suction cup and even a syringe to expand the tentacle’s capabilities beyond just grabbing and gripping. The tentacle’s innovative air channel design also means that it might be able to perform “other sophisticated movements while using less complex instructions than their mechanical cousins.” So far, the only real downside is that the the tentacle can’t be downsized any further without inhibiting the essential role of the air channels.

[Source: New Scientist, Live Science]