Robot Octopus Takes Over The Science Times–In My First New York Times Story!

This week’s New York Times’s science section has a creepy glimpse of the robotic future in it: a multi-armed aquatic octopus robot. 

I got to see this bot on a recent trip to Italy. It admittedly currently only has four soft arms, but it can already swim, crawl, and hold tools like a champ. And the researchers have dreams of good–rather than evil–for its future. It will be a big help for repairing underwater turbines, oil rigs, ships and possibly even mending the nets of fish farming operations (sorry, fish!), the team says. 

Read more in the full story and see pictures in The New York Times: “A Tentacled, Flexible Breakthrough” and watch a video, too!