Soft, elephant trunk-like robot for close interaction with humans

A soft, flexible robot safe for interaction with humans © 2023 EPFL/Alain Herzog - CC-BY-SA 4. Researchers have designed a bio-inspired robot with a novel trimmed helicoid structure that allows for a wide range of motion and safe interaction with humans. At EPFL's CREATE lab , under the guidance of Josie Hughes, a breakthrough has been made in the realm of soft robotics. Drawing inspiration from the versatile movement of elephant trunks and octopus tentacles, the team introduced the trimmed helicoid - a novel robotic structure that promises greater compliance and control in robotic designs. With a blend of keen biological observation and computational modeling, the researchers have now unveiled a soft robot arm capable of intricate tasks, ensuring safer human-robot interactions. The findings, detailing both the structure and methodology, are a collaboration with the Department of Cognitive Robotics at TU Delft and were published in Nature's new journal, npj Robotics. Professor Hughes highlighted the importance of this development: "Through the invention of a new architectured structure, the trimmed helicoid, we've designed a robot arm that excels in control, range of motion, and safety.