Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed a robotic suction cup prototype that is much stronger than current industrial solutions. It can grab onto rough, curved, and heavy objects like stones. The scientists were inspired by the way natural organisms, such as octopuses, can stick to rocks with their suckers. “We know that in nature there are so many soft-bodied organisms, for example, octopuses and snails and some kind of fishes, they can adaptively suck onto irregular surfaces,” said Tianqi Yue, a robotics researcher at the University of Bristol. Yue says all around us nature h…