News Summary

• Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have taken a very different approach to robots.
• Their inspiration is the octopus..
• The animal has a small central brain, but roughly 60% of its neurons are distributed across its eight tentacles.
• It's a decentralized nervous system that has worked flawlessly in unpredictable environments for millions of years.
• The IIT team has replicated that architecture but with silicone and electronics.
• The result is a soft robotic arm 41 cm (16 in) long and 4 cm (1.6 in) in diameter at the base, fitted with 10 artificial suckers that narrow toward the tip.