PROBOSCIS

The elephant proboscis is a highly versatile organ by which elephants sense and interact with the world, by performing both strong and delicate tasks supported by more than a hundred thousand muscles, no bones, and a sensitive skin.

Starting from investigations on the natural proboscis, PROBOSCIS envisions a new generation of universal robotic manipulators, having no distinction between soft arm and a gripper, displaying high versatility because of morphological intelligence, soft body adaptability, and distributed sensing.