All Hail Robo-Jellyfish!

Photo:
Image via Festo

One of our lovely readers brought this amazing video to our attention and we think it’s so fantastic we just had to share it with you – a little something for the weekend:

Inspired by one of the most misunderstood animals of the marine world – the graceful jellyfish, leading electronics company, Festo have designed and created a pneumatic version of the gelatinous creature that moves remarkably like the real thing. There have been a number of other versions floating about over the past few years but none that have caught our attention quite as much as this mechanical offering.

Festo explain how the technological wonder, called Aquajelly, works:

“AquaJelly is an artificial autonomous jellyfish with an electric drive and an intelligent, adaptive mechanical system. AquaJelly consists of a translucent hemisphere and eight tentacles used for propulsion. At the centre of the AquaJelly is a watertight, laser-sintered pressure vessel. This comprises a central, electric drive, two lithium-ion-polymer batteries, the charge control device and the servo motors for the swashplate.”

The ultimate idea is to have a number of the robots autonomously working together via a short-range radio and LED system so that the group of Aquajellys imitate real life. Fascinating stuff.

Check out Festo’s website for more wicked wonders of the robotic world.

Source 1, 2

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