Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.

In another example of unsettling biomimicry, engineering researchers from the University of New South Wales in Sydney were inspired by an elephant’s trunk and designed what looks more like a robotic ...

Folks blessed with a soft touch seem to have no problem getting to grips with delicate objects, but it can be a tough ask for robots. Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering ...

Chameleon tongues, gecko feet and octopus tentacles are just a few of the animal body parts we’ve seen inspire soft robotic grippers, but nature still has plenty to offer researchers in this field. A ...

Scientists often look to nature for cues when designing robots - some robots mimic human hands while others simulate the actions of octopus arms or inchworms. Now, researchers have designed a new soft ...

Robotic gripper could be used in agriculture, human rescue operations or personal assistive devices, food and the scientific and resource exploration industries, as per the study in Advanced Materials ...

An elephant's trunk is its most versatile appendage—and researchers' latest inspiration. Engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney have developed a soft fabric robotic gripper that ...

Engineers have invented a rubber-tentacled robot inspired by jellyfish that is capable of gently grasping fragile objects in ways never before thought possible. A team from Harvard University claims ...

The gripper designed by engineers from Harvard side-steps the challenge of recreating the human hand by throwing a bunch of tentacles at the problem The gripper designed by engineers from Harvard side ...

On Valentine’s Day at Soft Robotics in Cambridge, Mass. a staff member places heart-shaped marshmallow Peeps on a conveyor belt. A mechanical arm snatches them up, one by one, setting them gently in a ...

Taking inspiration from nature, researchers designed a new type of soft, robotic gripper that uses a collection of thin tentacles to entangle and ensnare objects, similar to how jellyfish collect ...