Scientists at EPFL have recycled food waste like shells from langoustines into functional, robotic claw machines that can hold onto objects. In a study by CREATE Lab, the team has tested whether crustacean shells could work better for some robotic tasks instead of the usual metal, plastic, or other synthetic materials.
The scientists say that crustacean shells can function well because they are hard and rigid in some places, which gives them strength, and they are also flexible in other places, which allows them to bend. This mix of hard and soft parts lets the animals move fast and with high power in water, the same properties that can be useful for functional machines.
The researchers recycle food waste into machines by taking the langoustine abdomens, the tail sections, and modifying them with synthetic parts. They put an elastic material inside the shell to control how each segment moves. Then they attached the shell to a motorized base, which is a machine that can move and change how stiff or loose the shell becomes. Finally, they covered everything with a silicon coating to make it last longer. This process combines three things: the natural shell for structure, elastic materials for movement control, and the motorized base for power and precision.