MIT Jammable Robot Manipulator Is A Robotic Elephant Trunk

MIT researchers have now featured a robust, high-force, low-cost, and highly articulated manipulator based on reversible jamming of granular media.

Part of the paper "Design and Analysis of a Robust, Low-cost, Highly Articulated Manipulator Enabled by Jamming of Granular Media," by N. G. Cheng et al, presented at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, this robot looks just like a elephant trunk.