Kaylene Kau has recently become somewhat of a rockstar among prosthetic limb engineers and gadget nerds. The UW grad developed an artificial arm that amounts to essentially a large, sectioned, flat-sided tapering tube that can wrap around and grip objects. In other words, it’s a tentacle.Here’s a video of Kau talking about her invention with KOMO on Monday. Before that, her device had been turning up on tech blogs the world over.We’re not about to start dissecting Asians’ well-established love of doing strange things with tentacles. Instead, we’ll open it up to discussion on the device’s perceived merits.The design seems to be very simple. It apparently only uses only a small motor and two cables, so it could be produced cheaply and easily. It also appears to be effective, being able to grip most everyday objects. It’s only got one thick “digit” though, so forget about dialing a cell phone or picking your nose.It’s only major drawback seems to also be its defining characteristic: its shape. To be sure, it’s as fine and modern-looking a tentacle as we’ve seen. With its matte white exterior and minimalistic style, it looks like it might be made by Apple. iLimb? Anyone?But there is some draw (I would imagine) in having a fake arm that looks at least vaguely human. Then again, if “vaguely human” is the best one can afford, maybe it’s better to just capitalize on the functional aspect and go octopus style.You tell me.