title: Biorobotic investigation on the muscle structure of an octopus tentacle.
abstract: The present paper aims at understanding the biomechanics of an octopus tentacle as preliminary work for designing and developing a new robotic octopus tentacle. The biomechanical characterization of the biological material has been carried out on samples of Octopus vulgaris tentacles with engineering methods and tools, i.e. by biomechanical measurements of the tentacle elasticity and tension-compression stress/stretch curves. Another part of the activities has been devoted to the study of materials that can reproduce the viscoelastic behavior of the tentacle. The work presented here is part of the ongoing study and analysis on new design principles for actuation, sensing, and manipulation control, for robots with increased performance, in terms of dexterity, control, flexibility, applicability.
authors.affiliation: CRIM (Centre of Research In Microengineering), Lab of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. b.mazzolai@crim.sssup.it
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazzolai
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Laschi
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cianchetti
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Patanè
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bassi-Luciani
authors.forename: Ivano
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Izzo
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dario
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005121:Extremities / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D049831:Octopodiformes / Q000502:physiology*; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D018511:Systems Integration