Morphing Suction Cups Capable of Bending and Lengthening

Commercial suction cups offer versatile solutions for adhering to a variety of objects through their good adhesion capabilities, compliance to object features, and ease of use. This has made them a practical solution for a variety of applications, and they have become ubiquitous across diverse industries. However, they are limited in their ability to adhere to objects at an angle from their main axis due to the limited passive compliance of their structure. This study introduces morphing suction cups that use cavities within the walls of the suction cups to enable them to bend and lengthen while still allowing the suction cup to adhere to objects. The morphing suction was able to lengthen by 42.7% of its initial length and bend at an angle of up to 67°. This allowed to adhere to objects at an angle of up to 70° from the axis of the suction cup. A multi-directional morphing suction cup was also presented which can bend bidirectionally. The proposed morphing suction cup has the potential to increase the versatility of suction cups for unstructured environments.