Octopus-inspired robotic arm uses tactile sensors in suction cups for underwater grasping

A soft robotic arm developed by Barbara Mazzolai's team at Italy's Italian Institute of Technology uses tactile sensors in suction cups to detect contact, measure force direction and intensity, and grasp objects autonomously in underwater environments. The device, published in Nature Machine Intelligence, is among the first soft manipulators with integrated tactile sensing for autonomous manipulation in complex settings.