Future Robots Can Learn a Thing or Two From Sea Horse's Square Tail

Sea horse's square-shaped tail is better able to withstand attack than a smooth, round tail would be, according to researchers.

The tail, used in grasping objects, is made of about 36 squarish segments with a boxy cross section rather than the more common cylindrical form, such as an arm or a leg or a tree branch.

"When living organisms deviate from the norm, there's usually a good biomechanical reason: a clue to some specific problem that needs to be solved," Miriam Ashley-Ross of Wake Forest University in North Carolina, who was not involved in the paper, pointed out in a commentary, and quoted by LA Times.

"From the sea horse's perspective, if you overtwist its tail you could damage some of its internal organs," said lead author Michael Porte, who is now a mechanical engineer at Clemson University in South Carolina.

Engineers are increasingly working in soft robotics, but those mechanisms are often weak and easy to break. Traditional rigid elements, meanwhile, don't allow the type of flexibility and responsiveness that you see in living beings. The findings of the sea horse study could help scientists build more flexible robots that are strong but less prone to breaking in the future, Porter said, mentioning robotic tentacles, sturdy mechanical arms and military body armor, LA Times noted.