Pneumatic octopus is first octobot: soft, solo robot

The engineers from the Harvard University have built the first ever octobot. It’s a self-contained, completely soft robot with eight soft legs. Thanks to the absence of rigid components in its scheme, octobot does not need batteries or wires, told the octobot’s creators in the publication in a journal Nature.

The Harvard engineers have created a fantastic robot. fully soft and solo project. Such an octobot made from silicone gels of varying stiffness, it eats the power of a chemical reaction that pushes gas through chambers in its rubbery legs. No wires, no batteries, no unwanted energy losses at all.

The robot’s internal pneumatic system, according to Ph.D. student Ryan Truby from Harvard University, marks a key step forward for soft robotics:

“What we’ve tried to do is actually to replace these hardware components entirely and have a completely soft robotic system.”