Now that I can follow and understand better.  Especially after watching his other video.



This is more of what I would think of a direct manipulation process.  The cables are hooked directly into a physical device that moves them. Not for sure on how the main tentacle moves exactly but the end is movement is based on this concept.




There is a really basic way of doing this with zip ties we have talked about before in other threads.




And here is something I found that shows the guts of a tentacle.

Welcome to Puppets and Stuff if I have not done so. This stuff is to technical for me however I find it very interesting to watch. I'll be following this thread..perhaps I can add another wrinkle to my brain.

Oh right I've seen most of these. The thing you'll notice about the difference between the "finished" tentacle in the top video and the "guts" of the tentacle in the last one is that the first tentacle has two spines, each controlled by a different stick, one at the base and one halfway up or so. That tentacle is able to make an "S" shape whereas the latter one can only do single curves. That's the difference I'm trying to figure out. It couldn't be as simple as just stacking one on the other, because the bottom one has to support the whole weight of the second one at one single point, basically.

I also notice that in the top video there (the "purple" tentacle) the user's hands are doing nothing but moving sticks in 2D, and he has to let go to manipulate the "grabber" controller that works the end of the thing. He could have built "squeeze" style, spring-loaded manipulators on the tops of those sticks so that he could manipulate everything without switching hands.

The wire controlled hands are something I've seen lots of videos of and I'm interested in those too, but I haven't gotten a chance to experiment with a design yet. I'm looking forward to that as well.

I do see in the end of the video with the skin removed that he's got the second set of cables set with the sheaths mounted halfway up, which makes sense, but what is that support core? It looks like plastic tubing, or weatherproof conduit, but both of those materials seem like they'd be too stiff for that fluid movement the tentacle has.

Welcome vagittarius (well, I'm sagittarius... ). Very nice, but like WAY beyond me. I was thinking to getting back to electronic stuff, but I fear I can't get it back into my mind...

... but what is that support core? It looks like plastic tubing, or weatherproof conduit, but both of those materials seem like they'd be too stiff for that fluid movement the tentacle has.

Not real sure of the exact tubing he used but I know you can get tubing that is pretty flexible.  Pet shops carry a clear tubing that would have the correct resistance needed yet be pliable. Also in most larger hardware stores if you look in the plumbing section you are going to find tubing that I think would be ok. It is normally on rolls and you buy it by the foot.