Abstract
We present a Lobster-inspired Soft Touch Enhanced Rigid Grasp (LobSTER-Grasp) gripper for robust underwater manipulation, replacing conventional grippers on commercial underwater robotic arms by integrating passively adaptive, networked soft fingers with rigid fingers and a newly designed mounting structure. We demonstrate that the networked soft fingers exhibit significantly lower hydrodynamic drag than solid fingers, mitigating the disturbance often induced when approaching underwater targets. In addition, we systematically investigate the parameters of lobster-inspired serrations on the finger surfaces, identifying a design that achieves 261% higher frictional force compared with standard uniform serrations. We embed these serrations into rigid and soft fingers for enhanced grasp reliability. Through a user study, we show that the LobSTER-Grasp gripper improves 38.2% grasping efficiency and 77.9% task versatility compared to a commercial counterpart, and we further validate its effectiveness in a tank environment using a remotely operated vehicle. Our findings suggest that this bio-inspired, rigid–soft coupling design offers a simple yet superior solution for more robust and adaptive underwater operations with strong potential in marine applications such as resource exploitation, ecological monitoring, and deep-sea exploration.
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@article{Zhong2025Bioinspired,
title = {Bio-inspired Rigid-Soft Interaction for Robust Picking Underwater},
author = {Shuqiao Zhong and Wanghongjie Qiu and Xudong Han and Chaoyang Song and Zhiyuan Zhou and Fang Wan and Jian Lin},
doi = {10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.123774},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-02-15},
urldate = {2026-02-15},
journal = {Ocean Engineering},
volume = {346},
pages = {123774},
abstract = {We present a Lobster-inspired Soft Touch Enhanced Rigid Grasp (LobSTER-Grasp) gripper for robust underwater manipulation, replacing conventional grippers on commercial underwater robotic arms by integrating passively adaptive, networked soft fingers with rigid fingers and a newly designed mounting structure. We demonstrate that the networked soft fingers exhibit significantly lower hydrodynamic drag than solid fingers, mitigating the disturbance often induced when approaching underwater targets. In addition, we systematically investigate the parameters of lobster-inspired serrations on the finger surfaces, identifying a design that achieves 261% higher frictional force compared with standard uniform serrations. We embed these serrations into rigid and soft fingers for enhanced grasp reliability. Through a user study, we show that the LobSTER-Grasp gripper improves 38.2% grasping efficiency and 77.9% task versatility compared to a commercial counterpart, and we further validate its effectiveness in a tank environment using a remotely operated vehicle. Our findings suggest that this bio-inspired, rigid–soft coupling design offers a simple yet superior solution for more robust and adaptive underwater operations with strong potential in marine applications such as resource exploitation, ecological monitoring, and deep-sea exploration.},
keywords = {Authorship - Co-Author, JCR Q1, Jour - Ocean Eng.},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
