Biomimicry

Some of the smartest engineering ideas are inspired by nature. A new robotic gripper, EleTac, borrows its design from the tip of an elephant’s trunk and it’s reportedly capable of not only detecting and holding objects, but also “feeling” them.

Scientists have created a robotic bird that swims, dives, and rockets out of water to fly, all without propellers, legs, or folding tricks. Just clever engineering solving a problem nature already does gracefully.

The sandfish lizard moves very efficiently through the sand, and not surprisingly, it doesn't use wheels to do so. Scientists have now copied the reptile's swimming motion in an experimental Mars rover that outperforms others in sandy soil.

A new 3D camera inspired by jumping spiders' eyes may well be found in the next generation of battery-operated wearable tech, assistive devices, robots and drones. The technology utilizes “less energy than a nightlight.”

Italian researchers built a soft robotic arm modeled on octopus neurology. With touch sensors in each sucker and no cameras or central computer, it autonomously detects, grabs, and manipulates underwater objects.

Bioinspired mechanisms have long been used in engineering. Recently, researchers developed a self-controlled technology that can automatically detect potential danger and activate a protective shell, similar to an armadillo.

Honeybees travel up to 2 miles from home to forage and seamlessly return. That’s equivalent to a human walking 226 miles without any equipment. Scientists have replicated this ability in a navigation system for drones that uses just 42 KB of memory.

You know that frustration after you gear up for a snowy day, only to take it all off in a heated office? Well, penguins don't. Come heat or cold, they just chill. Inspired, scientists have created a material that switches between heating and cooling.

Using arms to swim, crawl, sort, and grip, the Octopus-Inspired Upward Transport Robot (OUT-Robot) employs an inflatable “head” for zero-energy underwater ascent. It could offer a significant boost for oceanic exploration and resource extraction.

Butterfly wings boast a superpower known as anisotropy, which increases a structure’s ability to absorb energy and resist impact through controlled deformation. It could massively benefit architectural innovation through light, durable design.

RAnts – ant-like robots – demonstrate exbodied intelligence to construct or dismantle simple structures. Instead of using pheromones to signal each other where to gather and work, they drop illuminated markers called photormones.

Replicating brain-scale processing may require thousands of NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs. At 700 watts each, that would take megawatts. The brain runs on 20 watts. This organ has inspired scientists to create chips that cut energy use by 70%.