Engineers at Iowa State University have developed tiny robotic tentacles that move with spiraling motions in the same manner as elephant trunks, plant tendrils and monkey tails.

Recently, researchers have developed robots from plastic and rubber whose movements are inspired by octopuses, worms and starfish. These tiny robots differ from their conventional counterparts, which damage due to rigid parts.

The rigidity makes them unable to twist past obstacles and also make them vulnerable to harm from bumps, scrapes, twists and falls.

The research was led by Electrical engineer, Jaeyoun (Jay) Kim. His research group included Ho Cho, an Iowa State assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering and Jungwook Paek, who recently earned his Iowa State doctorate in electrical and computer engineering.

Kim said, "There's microrobotics, where people want to make robots smaller and smaller. And then there's soft robotics where people don't want to make robots out of iron and steel. This project is an overlap of both of those fields".

Most robots use two fingers and to pick up items they have to squeeze. However, these soft tentacles wrap around very gently and make them perfect hands and fingers for small robots designed to safely handle delicate objects.

The robotic tentacles can pick up and hold an ant whose waist is about 400 microns wide (0.0157 inch) without damaging its body.

Researchers believe this type of locomotion can prove useful in minimally-invasive surgeries that involve the delicate manipulation of fish eggs, embryos or blood vessels.