After devising systems inspired by penguins, herring gulls and elephant trunk, engineers at Festo devised a new system suitable for their Bionic Learning Network project. Inspired by dragonflies, they developed BionicOpter – an ultra-light system packed with everything needed to mimic the way dragonflies maneuver in all directions, glide without having to beat their wings… »
Although Festo primarily represents a supplier of automation technology, our loyal readers have been introduced to them with various interesting biomimetic projects we covered through the years. On a recent Hanover Trade Fair 2012, Festo exhibited a couple of their new concepts, and in this article we’re going to write about human-machine interaction, music being… »
Inspired by the herring gull flight, the engineers of Festo’s Bionic Learning Network came up with SmartBird – an ultralight but powerful flight model with excellent aerodynamic qualities and extreme agility. It is capable to take off autonomously and lift-up in the air by means of its flapping wings alone, without the aid of other… »
The ability of elephant’s trunk to be flexible, transmit large forces, and serve as a precise gripping tool, has inspired researchers to come up with the Bionic Handling Assistant. It was developed by Festo in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) and within the framework of the Bionic Learning Network… »
In the fictional Star Trek universe, a replicator is a machine capable of creating (and recycling) objects. 3D-printers today serve for creating rapid prototypes but their usage is becoming more and more diverse because of the growing variety of the materials used for production. Hence, there is a vast variety of objects you could “print”…. »
Modularization is a basic principle of living nature: organisms consist of molecules and cells that use genetic programming in order to group together to form organs. Cell division and modularization are the two mutually opposed aspects of reproduction in living systems. Researchers around the world are trying to make a modular robot that can change… »
Folks from German company Festo keep creating bionic marine animals which float in air. Penguins are fascinating creatures which have lost their ability to fly in the course of their genetic development as marine birds, but Festo engineers managed to create an artificial penguin and taught it “autonomous flight in the sea of air”. Named… »
Besides being cute, penguins are amazingly good swimmers. In their search for food, penguins often travel more than a hundred kilometers per day; they are able to dive in depths up to 700 meters. They are fast n the water, have a great deal of endurance and are astoundingly agile and can reach a top… »
