This Open-Source, Robotic Tentacle Will Haunt Your Dreams

John Biggs

Biggs is the East Coast Editor of TechCrunch. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. Email him directly at... → Learn More

Monday, February 11th, 2013
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In the underground world of robotic tentacle makers, there are two rules: 1) don’t talk about underground tentacle-making and 2) don’t talk about underground tentacle-making. Both of those rules have been shattered by Matthew Borgatti, a robotics designer who has created a life-like, 3D-printed tentacle that flails around quite disturbingly using Arduino boards and a set of mini air compressors.

Made of silicon, the robotic tentacle is almost completely soft and is controlled by three solenoids that manage the flow of air into the robot. Borgatti has posted the code for his robot for all to use and he’s even built a simple interface to control its motion.

I mean I like calamari as much as the next guy, but gah, am I right?