So I am a huge Boston Dynamics, the people who brought us Big Dog and the bi-ped, as well as many other awesome and functional robots. But another company has captured my interest. Still I hail from Boston, so I am sticking with Boston Dynamics, but you really should have a look at what these guys can do. They mimic nature... They looked at an elephant's trunk, and built it, with a 3 finger gripper at the end. Very strong and a massive range of movement. They built a submersible bassed off a penguin and another bot from jelly fish. Now... now they are after the birds, Check it out:
And this is how they did it: