Strong, agile, sensitive, and versatile: the proboscis of the elephant becomes a source of inspiration for a new generation of robots, manipulators, sensors and actuators innovative soft materials, which in the future may be used in the manufacturing industry and food, as well as in the care of the elderly and the disabled.
To develop them will be the researchers of the “Proboscis”, the project financed with 3.5 million euro by the european Commission and coordinated by the Italian Institute of Technology Pontedera (Pisa), in collaboration with the University of Geneva, the University of Jerusalem, the Scuola Superiore Sant’anna of Pisa and the company in the uk Photocentric.
