Elephant trunks use an adaptable prehensile grip

Schulz, Andrew; Reidenberg, Joy S.; Wu, Jianing; Tang, Cheuk Y.; Seleb, Benjamin; Mancebo, Josh; Elgart, Nathan; Hu, David L.

doi:10.1088/1748-3190/acb477

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Beyond its physical strength, the proboscis serves as a multi-functional tool in an elephant’s daily life. These functions encompass not only breathing but also olfaction, mechanosensation, activities like siphoning or spraying water, vocalization, posture-based communication, tool utilization, and even sprinkling dust for various purposes [ 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 ].…”

Section: Animal-inspired Grippersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinspiration and Biomimetic Art in Robotic Grippers

Nguyen,

Dhyan,

Mai

et al. 2023

Micromachines

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The autonomous manipulation of objects by robotic grippers has made significant strides in enhancing both human daily life and various industries. Within a brief span, a multitude of research endeavours and gripper designs have emerged, drawing inspiration primarily from biological mechanisms. It is within this context that our study takes centre stage, with the aim of conducting a meticulous review of bioinspired grippers. This exploration involved a nuanced classification framework encompassing a range of parameters, including operating principles, material compositions, actuation methods, design intricacies, fabrication techniques, and the multifaceted applications into which these grippers seamlessly integrate. Our comprehensive investigation unveiled gripper designs that brim with a depth of intricacy, rendering them indispensable across a spectrum of real-world scenarios. These bioinspired grippers with a predominant emphasis on animal-inspired solutions have become pivotal tools that not only mirror nature’s genius but also significantly enrich various domains through their versatility.

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Section: Animal-inspired Grippersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinspiration and Biomimetic Art in Robotic Grippers

Nguyen,

Dhyan,

Mai

et al. 2023

Micromachines

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“…The ventral skin is stiff and has wrinkles throughout that the elephant utilizes for gripping objects. When lifting heavier barbells, they engage more wrinkles, allowing the added surface area for gripping with the stiff ventral skin ( Schulz et al, 2023b ). Octopuses also show morphological specialization of their muscles along the length of their arms to assist with control of arm motion ( Di Clemente et al, 2021 ; Zullo et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: A Year At the Forefront Of Hydro-static Motionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Year at the Forefront of Hydrostat Motion

et al. 2023

Self Cite

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Currently, in the field of interdisciplinary work in biology, there has been a significant push by the soft robotic community to understand the motion and maneuverability of hydrostats. This Review seeks to expand the muscular hydrostat hypothesis toward new structures, including plants, and introduce innovative techniques to the hydrostat community on new modeling, simulating, mimicking, and observing hydrostat motion methods. These methods range from ideas of kirigami, origami, and knitting for mimic creation to utilizing reinforcement learning for control of bio-inspired soft robotic systems. It is now being understood through modeling that different mechanisms can inhibit traditional hydrostat motion, such as skin, nostrils, or sheathed layered muscle walls. The impact of this Review will highlight these mechanisms, including asymmetries, and discuss the critical next steps toward understanding their motion and how species with hydrostat structures control such complex motions, highlighting work from January 2022 to December 2022.

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“…composed only of muscles that retain their volume for any change in shape, to grasp their food with different extension, wrapping and rotation movements (Flash & Zullo, 2023). The three elephants species too can perform various grasping behaviours without prehensile forelimbs, extensively using their trunk (Dagenais et al., 2021; Hart et al., 2001; Racine, 1980; Schulz et al., 2021; Schulz, Reidenberg, et al., 2023; Soppelsa et al., 2022; Wu et al., 2018). Elephant trunk grasping abilities are particularly interesting as the trunk is also a muscular hydrostat allowing it a high degree of freedom of movement (Kier & Smith, 1985).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of the habitat and tusks on trunk grasping techniques in African savannah elephants

Costes,

Soppelsa,

Houssin

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Among tetrapods, grasping is an essential function involved in many vital behaviours. The selective pressures that led to this function were widely investigated in species with prehensile hands and feet. Previous studies namely highlighted a strong effect of item properties but also of the species habitat on manual grasping behaviour. African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) are known to display various prehensile abilities and use their trunk in a large diversity of habitats. Composed of muscles and without a rigid structure, the trunk is a muscular hydrostat with great freedom of movement. This multitasking organ is particularly recruited for grasping food items while foraging. Yet, the diet of African savannah elephants varies widely between groups living in different habitats. Moreover, they have tusks alongside the trunk which can assist in grasping behaviours, and their tusk morphologies are known to vary considerably between groups. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the food grasping techniques used by the trunk of two elephant groups that live in different habitats: an arid study site in Etosha National Park in Namibia, and an area with consistent water presence in Kruger National Park in South Africa. We characterised the tusks profiles and compared the grasping techniques and their frequencies of use for different foods. Our results show differences in food‐grasping techniques between the two groups. These differences are related to the food item property and tusk profile discrepancies highlighted between the two groups. We suggest that habitat heterogeneity, particularly aridity gaps, may induce these differences. This may reveal an optimisation of grasping types depending on habitat, food size and accessibility, as well as tusk profiles.

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Elephant trunks use an adaptable prehensile grip

Cited by 12 publications

References 32 publications

Bioinspiration and Biomimetic Art in Robotic Grippers

Bioinspiration and Biomimetic Art in Robotic Grippers

A Year at the Forefront of Hydrostat Motion

Effect of the habitat and tusks on trunk grasping techniques in African savannah elephants

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