The Economist has published a highly amusing (at least to me) and informative article about "the new robotics," inspired by the diversity of natural forms:

UNTIL recently, most robots could be thought of as belonging to one of two phyla. The Widgetophora, equipped with claws, grabs and wheels, stuck to the essentials and did not try too hard to look like anything other than machines (think R2-D2). The Anthropoidea, by contrast, did their best to look like their creators—sporting arms with proper hands, legs with real feet, and faces (think C-3PO). . . . It has belatedly dawned on robot engineers that they are missing a trick. The great natural designer, evolution, has come up with solutions to problems that neither the Widgetophora nor the Anthropoidea can manage. . . . The phylum Zoomorpha is on the march.

Among the many exciting animal forms currently under study for biomimicry purposes is, of course, the octopus:

After studying how octopus arms work, Dr Laschi and her team have come up with an artificial version that behaves the same way. Its outer casing is made of silicone and is fitted with pressure sensors so that it knows what it is touching. Inside this casing are cables and springs made of a specially elastic nickel-titanium alloy. The result can wrap itself around an object with a movement that strikingly resembles that of the original.

But why stop at octopus arms? Why not try to mimic the elastic tentacles of squids and cuttlefish? Or the combination of fins and jet propulsion that makes squid such brilliant swimmers? Or even, when it comes to slower motion, the gas-filled chambered shell of the nautilus?

They could be a whole class within the phylum Zoomorpha. I, for one, eagerly await the Cephalobots.

Thanks to Lou Z for the article link!