Getting hold of slippery objects is not always easy, particularly while wearing traditional gloves. A team of scientists led by Michael Bartlett from Virginia Tech has discovered the perfect solution. Their new pair of gloves can help provide anyone with the perfect grip on slippery objects.
What makes the new glove unique? The very first thing you will notice in this new glove is its design. The fingertips of gloves include suckers, similar to those found on octopus arms. Therefore, you can call it an octopus-inspired glove. These suckers are capable of helping people to hold slippery objects without a struggle. There is no need to hold the object too tightly, which can be extremely beneficial when someone wants to grab and hold an object underwater.
The glove’s suction cups are raspberry-sized cones made out of rubber with a stretchy rubber-made thin sheet as a cap. These cones create a vacuum by sucking out the air, which pulls the cap to a concave shape that eventually sticks to a surface. When you pump air back to the sucker, it inflates the cap, and you can pop off the surface. Every finger in this glove comes along with a small sensor that is capable of detecting nearby objects. Hence, the gloves would turn automatically into a sticky mode when you get closer to an object.
The newly introduced octopus-inspired gloves will offer numerous prominent applications. For example, they can be ideal for people engaged in search and rescue. These gloves can also benefit people engaged with marine biology and archeology. The applications will not end here, so we can expect these new gloves to be extremely popular among people all around the world once they get released.
