Frankly, I can think of few things I'd rather watch than a cool snake-arm robotics video. Well, speak of the devil.
(OC Robotics snake arm robotics video)
As far as I know, the first person to talk about the idea of having a mechanical snake arm, or mechanical tentacles, was in the classic 1898 story, War of the Worlds. H.G. Wells referred to the "glittering tentacles" that enabled the Martian Tripods to both walk and grasp objects:
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.
(Read more about H.G. Wells steel tentacle)
Tentacle Robot Gripper Recalls War Of The Worlds
'It presented a sort of metallic spider with five jointed, agile legs, and with an extraordinary number of jointed levers, bars, and reaching and clutching tentacles.' - HG Wells, 1898.
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Orion's 'Skip-to-M'Lou' Entry
'A lightning pilot possibly could land that tin toy without power and still walk away from it provided he had the skill to play Skip-to-M’Lou in and out of the atmosphere...'
Tentacle Robot Gripper Recalls War Of The Worlds
'It presented a sort of metallic spider with five jointed, agile legs, and with an extraordinary number of jointed levers, bars, and reaching and clutching tentacles.'