Elephant trunks: sensory art and inspiration for robots

Robotics Max Planck Researchers Want to Develop the "Trunk Robot"

2026-02-18 Source: dpa 1 min Reading Time

Elephants are true sensory artists with their trunks. If imitated, this biotechnology would create new possibilities in robotics. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart (Germany) are investigating possible solutions.

Researchers from Stuttgart have investigated whether the "technology" behind hairy elephant trunks, which function as a sensitive gripping system, can also be used in robotics.(Image: Zoo Magic) — Researchers from Stuttgart have investigated whether the "technology" behind hairy elephant trunks, which function as a sensitive gripping system, can also be used in robotics.
(Image: Zoo Magic)

Elephants' trunks are equipped with around 1,000 special tactile hairs that enable them to handle (or trunk) even delicate objects very carefully, say researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany.

The hairs are therefore responsible for the fact that the elephant's trunk is an extremely sensitive tactile organ that is able to compensate for the short-sightedness of the gray land giants. The secret lies in the geometry, porosity and stiffness of the hairs, which are three to five centimetres long at the tip of the trunk and measure 8 inches near the base of the trunk.

Elephant Trunk Hair from the Printer

The special feature: The trunk hairs are as hard as plastic at the base and soft and rubbery at the tip. This continuous change in the hardness of the hair makes it possible for the elephant to recognize how close or how far away the trunk is from an object. According to the Max Planck Institute, this is similar for cat whiskers. This is called embodied intelligence. Mice and rats don't have this, by the way.

The researchers in Stuttgart are turning this into a topic for innovative sensor and robot systems. For example, they have produced an enlarged, artificial trunk hair using a 3D printer in order to better understand the technology. Computer simulations are said to have confirmed the functional similarity. Now the findings are to be transferred to robots and smart systems. If this works, robots could be able to grasp as sensitively as the pachyderms in the future.

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