Some places are bringing them back, e.g. Prague started using them again this year, after 46 years. The modern ones often come with a battery that allows them to run sections of the line without overhead wires.
All the busses I've seen have this system where the driver has to walk to the back and pull on some rubber bands to put the tentacles back on the wires. If this could be automated, then perhaps you could omit wires at big junctions where it's most messy, needs lots of points, etc. Building & maintaining wires with 90% coverage might cost half as much as 100% coverage, I would guess.
The driver just has to stop on the usual spot, press a button, and while passengers are boarding and exiting, the "tentacles" unfurl, and are guided by these "catchers" towards wires. The driver just watches for a light to go on on his dashboard.
It works pretty well - in many years, I have only seen once that the tentacles did not end up where they should, and the driver had to get out and manually correct it.
The word I would use here are "trolley poles".