. >> this is stella, a 46-year-old elephant at the zoo in stuttgart. >> that's wild. >> an elephant'sk contains 40,000 muscles and no bones. it's an incredible multitool. >> it's a weapon and -- a vacuum cleaner. can you do my rug, it's dusty. what is it about the elephant trunk that would be useful as a machine? >> as you can see, it's so flexible and transmits a lot of force and makes it much more easy to handle things. >> reporter: festos stole the trunk idea to make a soft robot made of plastic and air. >> the idea that this is a safer robot. >> this robot is not dangerous and will support people during the working process. >> reporter: ideas from nature is called biomimickry, and festos has a long history of it. from fish, they modeled this after a fish's tail. >> this is like a -- you can use it, and you see what happens. >> i would say if you push this way, it would go that way. instead it goes into your finger. >> exactly. >> why does that make it a good gripper. >> like apples, vegetables, we can handle these, and the package lines without damaging the surface, because the sh