Lamellar–Microspine Architecture for Robust Friction on Slippery Soft Objects

Abstract

ABSTRACT Robust friction on soft substrates remains challenging under wet or oil‐lubricated conditions because conventional strategies fail when faced with both interfacial lubrication and material compliance. Here we present a lamellar–microspine architecture that combines gecko‐inspired lamellar compliance with insect‐inspired microspine anchoring to address this problem. Under shear loading, the microspines penetrate progressively into soft substrates, converting sliding into anchoring and generating high friction. The lamellar backing distributes loads evenly and extends the effective high‐friction regime. As a result, the lamellar–microspine surface achieves friction coefficients above 2 in dry, wet, and oil‐lubricated conditions—up to 97 times higher than non‐spined contacts—while maintaining negligible detachment forces. The integration of this architecture into the fin‐inspired gripper demonstrates reliable grasping of soft, slippery, and hard‐to‐hold objects—including live fish—under both dry and lubricated environments, where conventional grippers slip. By linking mesoscale compliance with microscale anchoring, this work provides a general approach for controlling friction on soft, lubricated surfaces, with implications for robotic manipulation, climbing systems, and biological sampling.