(Photo by David Ammon) STARKVILLE, Miss—A two-fingered robotic arm reaches toward a fluffy white cotton boll in a field. The device pulls in the lint from the boll and then moves on…grabbing another, ...

Among this year's dexterous, grippy offerings is a robotic end effector inspired by a gecko's fingers. Read also: Robots will steal more jobs from women than men - TechRepublic Geckos can scale ...