DailyDirt: Bio-inspired Robots
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Humanoid robots are pretty cool, but robot designers are also looking at other kinds of animals that would make for useful robotic mechanisms. By mimicking nature, engineers might also learn how to make robots move more efficiently. Here are just some examples where biology inspired specific robotic designs.- The robotics firm, Festo, created a robotic bird that seems to fly very naturally. This SmartBird can autonomously launch, fly and land... but it doesn't respond to breadcrumbs thrown on the ground. [url]
- The Festo AirJelly is a wacky-looking robot that looks like a jellyfish in the air. A solar-powered AirJelly that could stay aloft indefinitely would be really cool -- especially if it could also act as a wireless communications tower. [url]
- Mimicking certain crickets, robots from Australia shoot doughnut-shaped vortices of air at each other. The crickets use these puffs of air for silent, covert communications... don't know why robots wouldn't just use encrypted radio transmissions. [url]
- To discover more interesting robotics-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
Filed Under: airjelly, biomimicry, robots, smartbird
Companies: festo
