Flying Fishes and other sea-creatures in the air

Did I sensed a microtrend? It seems, that fishes and other biological stuff that is normally hidden under the surface of the ocean, is going to prepare the takeover in the air. At least in the robotic variant.

Festo is pushing this boundary project like the Airjelly or the air ray: In German you call this "Manta Rochen" and I think it is a real clever idea, to fill up ultralight structures with gas, that is lighter than air. In the result you get floating objects, that are move and navigate like object under water. The controls of this are very subtle. The only question that remains: What can be the use of such robots..? Well, except pure pleasure of competition and excitement?

Nautical objects in the air seem to get popular. In fact, the entry-barriers are not very high. In the end pleasure days like the Airship Regatta will become a counterpart to American events like the Death Match Killer Fighting Robots?

More infos on the Festo Blu Ray at their website. I also found more floating stuff on Eggshell: the Blimp and the Blubber Bots.

[via]

Tags: air, festo, biological, play, floating, festival, europe, germany
Oct_23:2008 .020200 Comments(0)

  • Currently 0 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Score: 5.0 (Number of votes: 1)

Airjelly: Jellyfishes from Festo float through the air

Festo, the air and pneumatics specialists from Germany, came up with a really simple, but yet effective idea. The design is closed connected to a jellyfish. In the mid is hoovering a balloon, filled with fine helium-gas. The tentacles, made of a thin and light material, make them shift and floating in the air, with peristaltic motion we know from underwater living. Once again a very impressive showcase from Festo! Did they visit the Wilhelma for inspiration?

PS: Incredible, how close we can get now to this fiction.

[via]

Tags: air, outdoor, art, germany, festo, giving-birth
Sep_03:2008 .020200 Comments(0)

  • Currently 0 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Score: 4.0 (Number of votes: 1)

Pneumatic Mucles for Festo Robots

Festo is a company from Germany, specialized in pneumatic and electromechanical systems, components and controls for industrial automation. They also do robots, but besides that pure boring industrial-robot stuff, they build robots that are far more. Look this video. The robots revel such a strong vision with a style so beyond. Simply something I've never seen before. The funky detail here are the pneumatic muscles that drive the robots with air.

Tags: industrial, pneumatics, humanoid, muscle, organic, germany, festo
Jan_29:2008 .020200 Comments(0)

  • Currently 0 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Score: 5.0 (Number of votes: 2)