Robot elephant trunk learns motor skills like a baby - tech - 13 March 2014 - New Scientist

Robot elephant trunk learns motor skills like a baby - tech - 13 March 2014 - New Scientist: The design showed that a trunk formed of 3D-printed segments can be controlled by an array of pneumatic artificial muscles...

They used a process called "goal babbling"... the robot remembers what happens to the trunk's position when tiny changes are made to the pressure in the thin pneumatic tubes feeding the artificial muscles. This creates a map that relates the trunk's precise position to the pressures in each tube.

The trunk can now be manually forced into a series of positions and learn to adopt them on command...

Pneumatic Muscles Power Sinewy New Leopard Robot | Popular Science

Pneumatic Muscles Power Sinewy New Leopard Robot | Popular Science: But Pneupard's creators, a team of researchers from Osaka University in Japan, aren't looking to race against the DARPA cheetah. Instead, they hope to learn more about natural cheetahs' locomotive secrets, which in turn will help build more agile robots...

Pneupard is already able to handle unevenness on the road, which researchers demonstrated by slipping blocks of metal, wood and other materials under its feet as it strode along a treadmill...

3-D Printed Octopus Suckers Help Robots Stick | Octopus Chronicles, Scientific American Blog Network

3-D Printed Octopus Suckers Help Robots Stick | Octopus Chronicles, Scientific American Blog Network: Rather than attempt to replicate the octopus’s very keen sense and control, the researchers designed a self-sealing sucker. Still activated by a central vacuum, these suckers are outfitted with individual movable plugs. The plug automatically seals the suction cup closed if it is not touching anything, and it opens when the suction cup comes into contact with an object, allowing pump-driven suction to start. By focusing the suction action on only those cups that are in direct contact with the desired object, this approach also increases the pressure each of those active cups receives.

To get just the right combination of strength and precision, the researchers have been building their prototypes with the help of a multi-material 3-D printer.