The amoeba can flow like liquid to change its morphology to effectively capture and excrete various prey. Inspired by the amoeba, we present a liquid metal universal gripper capable of effective grasping and active releasing of targets with various shapes, sizes, and stiffnesses in liquid and air. We unveil a surface tension induced active release mechanism enabling tunable active release of micro-objects. The gripper operates across 14 orders of magnitude in weight (from 10-12 g to 200 g) and achieves a low gripping contact pressure of ~10 Pa for handling delicate items. It can capture and release moving objects within milliseconds without precise alignment. An environment-agnostic surface activity design extends its functionality to a non-electrolyte environment. The gripper offers notable performance metrics over existing robotic grippers in multiscale operation, low contact pressure, and tunable releasing speed, representing a notable solution for living organisms and microscale objects.
© 2026. The Author(s).