PREVIEW

Researchers in Switzerland have unveiled an experimental robot built from an unexpected material: the remains of langoustine lobsters.

Engineers at the Computational Robot Design and Fabrication Lab (CREATE Lab) at EPFL’s School of Engineering say their prototype challenges the norm in bioinspired robotics, where natural forms often guide the design but the machines themselves are usually made from metals, plastics or composites.

CREATE Lab head Josie Hughes said combining biological materials with synthetic components could offer advantages both for robotics and for sustainable technology.

“Exoskeletons combine mineralised shells with joint membranes, providing a balance of rigidity and flexibility that allows their segments to move independently. These features enable crustaceans’ rapid, high-torque movements in water, but they can also be very useful for robotics. And by repurposing food waste, we propose a sustainable cyclic design process in which materials can be recycled and adapted for new tasks.”

In a paper published in Advanced Science, the team demonstrates three robotic applications using reinforced langoustine abdomen exoskeletons: a manipulator capable of lifting objects of up to 500g, flexible grippers able to grasp items from a highlighter pen to a tomato, and a swimming robot powered by two flapping exoskeletal fins.

For the study, researchers combined the structural strength and flexibility of the exoskeleton with the control and durability of synthetic parts. They embedded an elastomer inside each exoskeleton to manipulate its segments, mounted the structure on a motorised base to adjust stiffness, and added a silicone coating to reinforce the material and prolong its lifespan.

When attached to the motorised base, the system can lift and manoeuvre objects up to 500g. Used as a pair of grippers, two exoskeletons can reliably hold objects of various shapes and sizes. In aquatic tests, the setup propelled a small robot through water at speeds reaching 11cm per second.

After use, the biological component and the robotic base can be separated, with most synthetic elements reused. “To our knowledge, we are the first to propose a proof of concept to integrate food waste into a robotic system that combines sustainable design with reuse and recycling,” said first author and CREATE Lab researcher Sareum Kim.

However, the researchers note that natural variation between individual langoustine tails means the grippers do not always bend identically. They say future work will require more advanced synthetic augmentation, such as tunable controllers, to compensate for these differences.

Looking ahead, the team believes bioderived structural elements could play a role in areas such as biomedical implants or environmental monitoring.

“Although nature does not necessarily provide the optimal form, it still outperforms many artificial systems and offers valuable insights for designing functional machines based on elegant principles,” Hughes said.