Robotic Jellyfish by Festo

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May 1, 2008 01:23 AM

Categories: General Robotics

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NoroBiik

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Joined: 12/08/2007

Festo has made several groundbreaking robots , including a manta ray shaped bot that can swim/fly using it's wings. This time they've gone one step further & mimicked the jellyfish. The propulsion action reminds me of the way umbrella's work :)

Robotic Jellyfish Swim and Fly at Hannover Fair

Joseph Ogando, Senior Editor -- 4/22/2008 7:36:00 AM

The biggest draws at Festo’s Hannover Fair exhibits have been biologically inspired robotic creatures that show off cutting-edge automation technologies. Turning once again to nature for inspiration, the company’s engineers this year came up with robotic jellyfish that either swim or fly.

They may look whimsical, but the waterborne AquaJelly and airborne AirJelly make use of mechatronic design practices, control strategies and actuation methods that could have serious engineering implications. According to Markus Fischer, Festo’s head of corporate design, these robots have a degree of autonomy and adaptive behavior that “will be very useful in the factory of the future.”

Both the AquaJelly and AirJelly share a basic construction that consists of a sphere-shaped body with eight electrically driven tentacles for propulsion. Both run off rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and are powered by 3V coreless motors. Given the differing mediums in which they travel, the two robots do have different bodies — a laser-sintered pressure vessel for the AquaJelly and a helium balloon measuring 1.35m across for the AirJelly.

Full article here (includeds video):

http://www.designnews.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA65537...

Also found this very nice Youtube video on the AquaJelly & AirJelly