The octopus robots are coming…

Forget the traditional human-like robot design - the octopus bot might be the future.

This is both awesome, and very slightly creepy:

Festo designed this bionic gripper called the OctopusGripper, whose function and form is – pretty clearly – derived from an octopus tentacle. Fascinating how deriving a design from nature, using a flexible silicone structure to grip softly and securely can solve a bunch of problems.

[via Boing Boing]