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Still Dreaming Of Tentacle Arms
German firm Festo put out this cool visualization of a robotic tentacle arm; it would be actuated by air pressure rather than the usual servomechanisms.
(Robotic 'Handling Assistant')
H.G. Wells was the first one to paint this picture in fiction (as far as I know); readers recall the steel tentacles from his 1898 novel War of the Worlds:
Seen nearer, the Thing was incredibly strange, for it was no mere insensate machine driving on its way. Machine it was, with a ringing metallic pace, and long, flexible, glittering tentacles (one of which gripped a young pine tree) swinging and rattling about its strange body.
Via Botjunkie.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/14/2010)
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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