Meeting Abstract
The octopus holds great promise as a model for the design of soft robotics. Octopus arms are muscular hydrostats with infinite degrees of freedom, providing the ability to execute diverse modes of locomotion, including jetting, swimming, crawling, and walking. At the same time, the arms can also apply great force to perform a range of tasks such as fetching, grasping, and manipulating objects. Octopus suckers play a key role in executing many of these locomotor and anchoring tasks. Experimental evidence suggests that suckers can hold high adhesive forces on both wet and dry surfaces with various topographies. While prior research has been conducted on the muscular structure and some of the mechanical properties of octopus suckers, little to no effort has been put towards evaluating the effects of environmental conditions (i.e. temperature and salinity) on adhesion and suction. The suckers of two octopus species (Octopus vulgaris and Octopus bimaculoides) will be detached from the arms to examine their adhesive and suction properties. Temperature and salinity ranges of 15-22°C and 33-37%, respectively, will be used as the experimental parameters, as these correspond to conditions in the natural habitats of these two species. The findings of this study will be essential in the development of versatile attachment mechanisms for aquatic soft robotic systems.
