Watch: New and improved octopus robot speeds through sea

ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 25 (UPI) —

The updated octopus robot, designed, built and perfected by scientists at the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) in Greece, has bested its own speed record — its swimming abilities now vastly improved by the simple addition of a thin web between its tentacles.

Last year, researchers tested a number of different swimming techniques, or gaits, for speed and efficiency. Real octopuses only use one gait called sculling, whereby all eight tentacles move in synch. But researchers tested a number of techniques using arms swinging free of each other. After finding a specific gait that was most effective, researchers went back to the drawing board to optimize the design.

They decided to add a soft silicone web connected between each tentacle of the roboctopus. The web extends about halfway down the length of each arm. Researchers reported that the addition nearly doubled the speed of the robot.

To boot, the scientists programmed the robot to crawl and carry objects. And as new video shows, roboctopus can also swim freely in the Aegean Sea. The new and improved roboctopus was presented to attendees of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, held in Chicago last week.