Cat Grooming Inspires Soft Gripping Material

Nov-22-16 A new material inspired by a cat’s tongue could help soft robotics get a grip.

By viewing extremely close-up video footage of a cat’s tongue during grooming, the team was able to study the tongue spines, which they call “Velcro-like hooks.” The flexible hooks are able to grip the fur and pull tangles loose, and then lie flat when not in use. The team then went on to create a material similar to the cat’s tongue, but at 400 percent scale.

Because the tongue spikes are both flexible and able to grip, they could be used in soft robotics to enable the bots to grasp objects without sacrificing elasticity.

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[NEWATLAS.COM]
[NEWSWISE.COM]

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