life inspired

"It turns out that opposable thumbs aren't critical for getting a good grip. Neither are fingers. Scientists have created a robotic arm that can do everything from serve drinks to draw pictures even though it has no digits.[...] Their robotic hand [...] is a thin rubber sack filled with coffee grains or small glass spheres." News piece @ ScienceNOW

Full Paper: Brown et al [2010] "Universal robotic gripper based on the jamming of granular material". PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1003250107.