The way octopuses move across the seafloor is like nothing else. Their arms twist and turn in all directions as they make their way across lumpy, bumpy ground. Understanding exactly how they make these movements could help engineers develop state-of-the-art robots that could easily navigate across uneven terrain – but it’s incredibly challenging to study.
Now, researchers from MBARI have made a breakthrough that could bring this closer to reality. Their scientists have successfully deployed a new imaging system – called EyeRIS (Remote Imaging System) – that could help reveal the secrets of exactly how deep-sea cephalopods move through the ocean.
“In MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab, we look to nature to find inspiration for tackling fundamental engineering challenges,” says MBARI’s principal engineer Kakani Katija in a statement.
“Octopuses are fascinating subjects as they have no bones yet are able to move across complex underwater terrain with ease. Until now, it has been difficult to study their biomechanics in the field, but EyeRIS is a game changer for us.”
Armed with their new tech, they headed 3,000 metres underwater to the famous Octopus Garden off the coast of California – the largest known aggregation of octopuses on the planet, where some 20,000 pearl octopuses (Muusoctopus robustus) gather to mate and nest each year.
Here, they filmed the cephalopods going about their business. The unique imaging system captured the animals’ every movement in 3D and created a reconstruction showing exactly how the limbs move.
“EyeRIS allowed us to follow several individuals as they moved, completely unconstrained, in their natural environment,” says senior research specialist Crissy Huffard. “Our team was able to get 3D measurements of their arms in real-time as they crawled over the rough terrain of the deep seafloor.”
Thanks to the high-res cameras that could track many different angles at the same time, the team could see exactly how the arms moved, curved and strained as the octopus plodded along. Their findings are published in the journal Nature.
"EyeRIS data showed that pearl octopus use temporary muscular joints in their arms when crawling, with strain and bend concentrated above and below the joint. This allows them to have simple, but sophisticated, control of their arms,” said Huffard.
"The mechanisms of this simplified control could be valuable for designing octopus-inspired robots and other bioinspired technologies in the future.”
For Katija, this new development hints at the many discoveries yet to be made about the deep sea – many of which could have useful applications for humans.
“There is still so much to learn about marine life,” she says. “EyeRIS will allow us to continue to study the movement and behaviour of octopuses and other deep-sea animals in their natural environment using non-invasive techniques. I’m excited to see how this growing body of research and new technology sparks future bioinspired engineering innovation.”
Image and video credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) | Top image: MBARI’s innovative EyeRIS camera system collects near real-time three-dimensional visual data about the structure and biomechanics of marine life. Filming deep-sea pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robustus) with this system has provided new insight into octopus locomotion that can contribute to the design of bioinspired robots in the future. Credit: 2022 MBARI
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