Fig. 1: Biological versus artificial model.

Juxtaposition between the biological model and its relevant features and the artificial system. a, The octopus’s dexterity is replicated in the artificial soft arm to perform different grasping configurations (ventral and dorsal bending and twisting). The artificial arm imitates the distributed but hierarchically organized control architecture of the octopus. The octopus has a central, small brain that orchestrates high-level behaviour within the CNS, to which the PNS connects via an inter-arm connection (IAC) circuit for multiarm coordination. b, PNS is distributed along the arms and architected into the LNC located in the suckers. It contains about 350 million cells, comprising about two-thirds of all neurons in the octopus. Most of the cells are located in the axial nerve cords projecting from the brain to the arms⁶¹. c, In the robot, artificial suction cups are scaled to facilitate integration in a conical arm, similar to the natural one. Mechanoreceptors are distributed across suction cups to detect contact, its direction and the force on each cup, providing feedback for autonomous grasping. Local processing triggers local reflex-like behaviour (that is, suction) as signals are passed to peripheral control; these signals are combined to define the tendon actuation strategy. d, Some instances in the arm configuration space are shown in successive sequences in the bottom-right corner.