octopus-Inspired Robots

The article starts off with an example of what most robots due which only functions in a highly structured environment, like factories assembly lines. But thanks to scientist they are starting to do more research on bio-mimicry which means that their are trying to mimic animals by build robot that look like animals and can do the same thing as an animal. For example a team of researches in Italy wanted to build a squishy aquatic robot so they drew inspiration from an octopus. The articles states that they way they work is that "The animal’s movements don’t require a lot of brainpower. Rather than relying on top-down instructions from the central nervous system, many of an octopus’s movements happen almost spontaneously–the result of the physical interplay between the animal’s body and its surrounding environment."