There's a lot we can learn from the octopus. Scientists working in the field of soft robotics have been devising smart materials, smart skins and artificial muscles which move and work in novel ways – all taking a cue from how octopuses move. And by better understanding octopuses, engineers could soon transform the technologies available to people with disabilities. "Some of our smart skins are based on the skin of the octopus and the cephalopods," says engineer Jonathan Rossiter, head of the soft robotics group at Bristol Robotics Laboratory. They can change colour, change texture and radically morph their shapes.

Even octopuses understand the importance of elbows. When these squishy, loose-limbed cephalopods need to make a precise movement -- such as guiding food into their mouth -- the muscles in their tentacles contract to create a temporary revolute joint. These joints limit the wobbliness of the arm, enabling more controlled movements. Now, researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have shown how a multi-layered structure can allow robots to mimic the octopus' kinematics, creating and eliminating joints on command. The structure can also allow robots to rapidly change their stiffness, damping, and dynamics.