London ( CNN ) -- What do artificial whiskers and coffee-filled balloons have in common ? The answer is that they are both tools on experimental robots -- but they are also being put forward as possible ideas to help future planetary explorations . `` Shrewbot '' is the latest in a line of robots developed by teams at the UK 's Bristol Robotics Laboratory ( BRL ) that aims to test whether artificial whiskers could help a robot find its way around . Inspired by the Etruscan shrew -- one of the world 's tiniest mammals -- scientists wanted to find out if a robot could explore its environment using touch instead of vision , just as rats , mice and shrews find food in the dark . Team leader Martin Pearson , who works at the Biotact project , said the research was primarily to assist biologists in their understanding of how an animal 's touch sensing works . But he added : `` Future robotic applications for this kind of sensing could be in search-and-rescue robots operating in smoke filled buildings or for sub-sea pipeline inspection robots in the murky depths of the sea . '' The idea has also been suggested as a way to explore planetary surfaces where there is limited vision . Speaking at a space conference at the UK 's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , robotics expert and co-founder of the BRL , Alan Winfield , identified it as one of a number of advancements that might be useful to space scientists planning future missions . `` I was speculating that whiskers could provide a planetary rover with the ability to feel its way around , '' he told CNN . `` It may be that certain types of geology would be helped if you could , for instance , run the whiskers across the rock sample because you can get texture from whiskers . `` You can also imagine planets with thick , heavy atmospheres where vision would be completely useless . One of the beauties of whiskers is that the whisker can get damaged but still works -- all the sensing is done at the root . '' Winfield also pointed to research carried out by Cornell , the University of Chicago , iRobot Corp and Liquidia that produced a robotic gripper using coffee granules and a latex party balloon . It exploits the way vacuum-packed coffee is rigid until the seal is broken and then the coffee granules can flow , adapting to the shape of an object it is pressed against . The vacuum can then be restored and the balloon 'jams ' solid to form a grip . Watch how the gripper works at Cornell Creative Machines Lab . In 2010 `` jamming gripper '' researcher Heinrich Jaeger described in the Cornell Chronicle how the project had `` opened the door to applications none of us had originally thought about . '' One of those applications , Winfield suggested , is a potential alternative for gathering samples on a planetary rover mission . `` Almost any planetary exploration robot is likely to need a gripper to pick up or collect rock samples for analysis or collection , '' he said on his blog . `` Something like the Jaeger-Lipson coffee balloon gripper would -- I think -- provide a much better solution . This soft gripper avoids the hard control and computation because the soft material adapts itself to the thing it is gripping . '' Speaking to CNN , Jaeger said it would be exciting to work with space scientists . `` It 's wonderful to see engineers and researchers come up with new ideas based on granular jamming . `` The main advantage of the jamming gripper is that it can deal effectively with very irregularly shaped objects and needs to cover only a fraction of the sample 's surface in order to hold on to it . `` Perhaps even more importantly for a rover mission on Mars -- there are no mechanical parts that can get clogged up by dust . `` A third advantage is that the gripper is exceedingly gentle . It will put very little stress on the object to be gripped because it distributes the holding force over a large contact area that very closely conforms to the object 's shape . '' Winfield said this new field of `` soft robotics '' could be well suited to space exploration , explaining that the BRL is now working on touch sensors for robots . `` It 's easy to see that giving planetary robots touch sensing could be useful , but there 's another possibility ... the potential to allow Earth scientists to feel what the robot 's sensor is feeling , '' he told CNN . Looking further into the future , Winfield believes so-called swarm robots -- large groups of simple robots that work together like social insects -- ones that can self-assemble and adapt to the environment in the way living creatures do , could also aid scientists exploring new worlds . `` Imagine that robots can actually remake parts of themselves -- we ca n't even do that in the lab yet -- but in theory you can imagine robots that can adapt their physical shape as well as their behaviors to meet a particular environment ... it 's almost like evolution except these are mechanical devices , '' he said . However , he also believes that this technology -- along with fully autonomous robots that can think for themselves -- is a long way off . `` This field is very much a concept that we are developing in the lab -- I would n't expect these swarms of robots in space any time soon , '' he said .
` ` Shrewbot '' aims to test whether artificial whiskers can help a human navigate . Robotics expert John Winfield suggests they could be useful for planetary rovers . He also wants to work on soft robotics that could aid space exploration . So - called ' soft robots ' might be able to adapt to an alien planet 's environment , he says .