Snakeskin soles pop-up to help reduce falls

The assistive grips, developed by researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and MIT, are detailed in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Japanese art form kirigami inspires robot snake locomotion

"Falls are the leading cause of the death for older adults and the second leading cause of occupational-related deaths," said Giovanni Traverso, an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and co-corresponding author of the paper. "If we could control and increase the friction between us and the ground, we could reduce the risk of these types of falls, which not only cost lives but billions of dollars in medical bills every year."

According to Harvard, the researchers used kirigami to mimic snake scales. The gripper is made from a thin, flexible steel sheet, with dozens of scale-like cuts. When the material stretches, the cuts pop out into spikes that dig into the ground and create friction. When the foot flattens, the spikes fold back into the material, creating a smooth surface again.