Robotic octopus can swim, crawl and carry stuff under water

Researchers have built a robotic octopus that can swim, crawl and carry objects in its tentacles.

The current version of the robot has been "upgraded" since last year, as the researchers have added a flexible silicone web that has nearly doubled the speed of the "roboctopus," according to IEEE Spectrum.

Here is a video of the robotic "creature":

The video of the robot includes four parts, with the first part showing the "octopus" swimming with just flexible arms and then swimming after the addition of the web. In the second part of the video, the roboctopus is shown crawling on the ground, in a gait typical for most real octopuses that are not in a rush to get somewhere. The third clip shows the "animal" swimming while carrying an object and, in the final part of the video, it swims in the Aegean Sea, just like an actual octopus would.

The new research was presented last week at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2014 in Chicago.