Nature-inspired gripper! 🦎 A chameleon doesn't grab its prey, but its tongue wraps around it. Festo built a gripper that does the same thing, and the mechanism is more elegant than it looks. The FlexShapeGripper is an elastic silicone cap sitting on a water-filled chamber. It works as a double-acting cylinder, one chamber holds compressed air, the other is permanently filled with water. Vent the air chamber, and the water-filled silicone pulls itself inwards. The cap folds over whatever is underneath and locks around its shape. The grip is form-locking, so the object's own geometry does the work of holding it. → Adapts to any shape, including delicate and irregularly shaped items where rigid jaws fail → Can pick up and deposit several objects in one operation → Pneumatic drive, minimal energy consumption → The silicone cap maps directly onto the chameleon's tongue Always good to see the mimicry developments from Festo! :) ~~ ♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news →