Octopus-Inspired Suction Cup Array for Versatile Grasping Operations

Octopuses can use as few as a single sucker to grab and hold onto objects as each sucker creates its own vacuum pressure using their individual muscles. Man-made suction arrays using vacuum pressure need mechanical solutions such as check valves for every suction cup, or they need to compensate for air leakage using heavy high flow pumps. The system also needs to be modified depending on whether it is operating in the air or underwater. This makes man-made systems powerful if driven by the appropriate fluidic hardware, but the size of the system and its lack of versatility can be a problem. This letter introduces the design of an octopus-inspired suction cup array (OISCA) that consists of multiple suction cups with a single vacuum input channel and independent vacuum adhesion cavities through the use of flexible membranes separating the applied vacuum cavity from the cavity creating the adhesive force onto the objects. This letter shows that leaks only affect individual suction cups, that the OISCA can be used in air or underwater with the same pneumatic system, and that it can grab grooved, curved, or perforated objects even with multiple of its suction cups failing to make a seal.