CAMBRIDGE, MA - Who would have thought that the grip of an octopus would be what inspired a robotic hand soft enough to grip the fleshiest produce?
At Soft Robotics, a Massachusetts-based technology company, that’s apparently what it took.
According to a Boston Globe report, the company took a more delicate approach in developing a robotic grip by using a polymer instead of metal and phalanges closer to operating like tentacles to mimic human grip, resulting in very blue-looking suction tubes.
“They’re basically going to be like the grasp of the human hand,” Joshua Lessing, Founder and Director of R&D at Soft Robotics, told the Globe. Lessing hand-crafted some early prototypes, which was initially intended for more hospital than harvest-related uses.
Initially the project was to be used by a surgeon as a more effective surgical tool, but shifted gears when Chief Executive Carl Vause asked Lessing if the technology could work for grasping produce. As Lessing told the Globe, he reasoned that if it could grasp a spleen, it could grab a vegetable. And with the produce industry being a large market just beginning to dip its toe into robotics, the company saw an opportunity in shifting its focus to fruits and veggies.
Now the bright blue, rubbery-textured tubes are being tinkered with the produce industry in mind, and apparently growers are taking note of the possibilities.
Curtis Anderson, a Technologist for Nature Fresh Farms, told the Globe that not only is the grower intrigued by the idea of a robot that can pick and package tomatoes without damaging them, but that it also adds a sanitary factor to the produce handling that human hands can’t always guarantee.
Not to be limited, the technology works with a number of produce including broccoli, strawberries, limes, and more. To see it in action, watch the video below.
She’s still in the works, but soon who knows? A picking and packing line of robotic tentacle hands could be on the horizon.
