Biomimicry

"A good deal of work is being done to improve how existing surgical procedures are performed by making rigid tools flexible and steerable. [...] One of the teams at TU Delft developed an arthroscopy tool that has a snake-like tip capable of bending in surprising ways. The so-called MultiFlex is an example of the bio-inspired approach that is at the heart of many of the tools being built at TU Delft. It takes ideas from octopus tentacles that have a bunch of muscle rods near the perimeter that work together to flex the tentacle well enough to be featured in horror movies."

"Surgeries might be easier and safer due to a new invention by researchers from the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Italy, a robotic arm that was inspired by tentacles of an octopus. 

The robotic arm device moves by using its inflatable chambers, imitating the natural motion of an octopus twisting and elongating its tentacles in any direction it desires."