Manipulation & Grasping Education & Research
Elephant trunk skin’s dual-zone design offers blueprint for advanced robotic grippers
Original from InterestingEngineering.com: Elephant trunk skin’s dual-zone design offers blueprint for advanced robotic grippers

Elephant trunk skin’s dual-zone design offers blueprint for advanced robotic grippers

An elephant's trunk, a remarkable adaptation of the species, showcases its strength and versatility as it can effortlessly transport heavy logs across open spaces. This impressive ability not only highlights the physical prowess of elephants but also serves a crucial role in their daily activities, such as foraging and building shelters. Observations of these behaviors contribute to a deeper understanding of elephant intelligence and their interactions with the environment. The trunk's dexterity allows elephants to manipulate objects with precision, demonstrating their complex problem-solving skills and social behaviors. As researchers continue to study these magnificent creatures, they uncover insights into their ecological impact and the importance of preserving their habitats.

RobotToday Initiative

Robotics needs a service framework.

RSF defines a common language for robot service capability, lifecycle operations, certification pathways, and service-provider networks.

Share

Related Articles/News

Anthropic Disrupts Five Cases of Claude Misuse for Potential Bioweapons Research

Anthropic Disrupts Five Cases of Claude Misuse for Potential Bioweapons Research

Anthropic reported that it intervened in five instances where researchers misused its AI model, Claude, in ways that could have facilitated biological weapons development. These incidents occurred between December 2025 and August 2026, highlighting the challenges of distinguishing legitimate scientific research from potentially harmful activities. The sig...

AI and Robotics
Sixth Graders Program Robots to Breakdance, Highlighting Shift in Robotics Education

Sixth Graders Program Robots to Breakdance, Highlighting Shift in Robotics Education

At Punahou School in Hawaii, a group of sixth graders successfully programmed wheeled robots to perform breakdancing moves. This project involved translating complex physical movements into sequences of commands that machines can understand, encompassing concepts like coordinate transformation and feedback control. With the right educational tools, these ...

Robotics Education Programming Algorithm Development
Skyports Collaborates with Oita Government to Enhance Advanced Air Mobility Services

Skyports Collaborates with Oita Government to Enhance Advanced Air Mobility Services

Skyports Infrastructure has entered into a partnership with the Oita Prefectural Government to establish a framework for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) services in the region. This collaboration aims to support Oita's goal of initiating commercial AAM operations around the year 2028. The partnership, formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding, signifie...

Aircraft News Transportation
NOAA Selects Mississippi State University to Lead New Northern Gulf Research Institute

NOAA Selects Mississippi State University to Lead New Northern Gulf Research Institute

NOAA has appointed Mississippi State University to host the Cooperative Institute in the Gulf of America (CINGA), aimed at enhancing research collaboration on Gulf ecosystems. This initiative builds on a 20-year partnership with NOAA, focusing on science-based decision-making for the northern Gulf region. The establishment of CINGA is significant as it co...

noaa mississippi state university northern gulf research institute
XPENG Launches Production of World's First Advanced Humanoid Robot with Official Facility Commissioning

XPENG Launches Production of World's First Advanced Humanoid Robot with Official Facility Commissioning

XPENG has officially launched its humanoid robot production lines, successfully completing the manufacturing of the world's first advanced humanoid robot. This milestone signifies a significant transition from research and development prototyping to actual production-line manufacturing. The achievement is crucial as it demonstrates XPENG's capabilities in...

Teledyne Webb Research Secures U.S. Navy Contract for APEX Profiling Floats

Teledyne Webb Research Secures U.S. Navy Contract for APEX Profiling Floats

Teledyne Webb Research has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy for the provision of APEX profiling floats. This contract highlights the Navy's commitment to enhancing oceanographic research capabilities through advanced technology. The APEX profiling floats are designed to collect critical ocean data, which is essential for various applications, incl...

teledyne webb research contract award u.s. navy
China’s Dexterous Hand Industry, 2026 Part 3 — The Players

China’s Dexterous Hand Industry, 2026 Part 3 — The Players

Five vendor archetypes, MIR’s composite top ten, eight company profiles and six field deployments — every firm linked to the RobotToday supplier directory.

Components and Hardware Humanoids
AGIBOT Open-Sources 11,430 Robot Trajectories to Enhance Reinforcement Learning Research

AGIBOT Open-Sources 11,430 Robot Trajectories to Enhance Reinforcement Learning Research

AGIBOT, a Chinese robotics company, has released its WORLD 2026 dataset, featuring 11,430 robot trajectories aimed at advancing research in reinforcement learning for embodied AI. This dataset emphasizes learning from real-world interactions, capturing a range of experiences including successes, failures, and human interventions. The significance of this ...

AI and Robotics
China’s Dexterous Hand Industry, 2026 Part 2 — The Technology

China’s Dexterous Hand Industry, 2026 Part 2 — The Technology

Linkage, tendon, direct drive or hybrid — and why hardware is converging while the DL1–DL5 manipulation scale decides who wins. Part 2 of 3.

Components and Hardware
China’s Dexterous Hand Industry, 2026 Part 1 — The Demand Picture

China’s Dexterous Hand Industry, 2026 Part 1 — The Demand Picture

MIR Databank puts China dexterous hand shipments above 30,000 units in 2026, yet only 3.5% of 2025 demand came from factory production. Part 1 of 3.

Components and Hardware Humanoids
Enhanced Grippers Essential for Advancing Physical AI in Robotics

Enhanced Grippers Essential for Advancing Physical AI in Robotics

Physical AI aims to create robots that can perceive, act, and adapt with minimal task-specific engineering. This technology relies on effective hardware, particularly end-of-arm tooling (EOAT), which must integrate adaptability, sensing, and feedback to manage real-world variability in manufacturing environments. The importance of reliable EOAT cannot be ...

Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence / Cognition Design / Development
Variable Impedance and QP-CBF Control for Damage-Free Grasping Using Multimodal Oxidation Prior

Variable Impedance and QP-CBF Control for Damage-Free Grasping Using Multimodal Oxidation Prior

The article discusses a novel approach to damage-free grasping through the implementation of variable impedance and Quadratic Programming-Collision Barrier Function (QP-CBF) control. This method leverages multimodal oxidation prior to enhance the grasping capabilities of robotic systems. This advancement is significant as it addresses the challenges of en...

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Related Suppliers

ExoAtlet

Develops medical exoskeletons for gait rehabilitation with powered lower-limb support, adjustable assistance, and sensor-driven control for neurorehabilitation.

Healthcare & Senior Care Robot Manufacturer Manipulation & Grasping

Laevo B.V.

Schiedam, Netherlands exoskeleton maker founded 2013; builds the passive spring-based Laevo V2 and FLEX back-support exoskeletons with up to 60 Nm of assist.

Healthcare & Senior Care Robot Manufacturer Manipulation & Grasping

Prensilia s.r.l.

Italian robotic hand maker spun out of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in 2009; produces IH2 Azzurra 11-DOF research hand and Mia Hand for prosthetics and.

Healthcare & Senior Care Industrial Manufacturing Manipulation & Grasping

BioRobotics Laboratory, Korea University of Technology and Education

South Korean university research laboratory focusing on haptics, exoskeletons, rehabilitation robotics, and autonomous ground vehicles.

Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL)

VA–Univ. of Pittsburgh research center founded 1994, developing wheelchair robotics and assistive mobility tech for veterans and people with disabilities.

Education & Research Healthcare & Senior Care Human-Machine Interaction

Robotics Education & Competition Foundation

The REC Foundation is a US nonprofit that runs VEX-based robotics and drone competitions reaching 1.1 million students across 70 countries.

inJoin the RobotToday community on LinkedIn

Daily robotics news, in-depth analysis, conference highlights, and discussions with professionals worldwide.