Turns out robot maker Festo did more than just dream about robot tentacle arms; they instantiated their idea, using elephant trunks as their model. Take a look at this demonstration video.
(Festo Bionic Arm)
I was also fascinated by the fabrication process, which creates lightweight, flexible and energy-efficient robotic manipulators.
Festo has been very creative in the last few years; take a look at some of their work:
Festo Aqua Ray Robot
Aqua_ray is a remote-controlled fish driven by water hydraulics, the shape and movements of which have been based on the model of a manta ray.
Robot Arm With Fluidic Muscles
The company describes it as a "combination of mechatronics and the biological model of a human being."
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!' - Ray Cummings, 1931.
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.' - Neal Asher, 2008.
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Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'