science has built a better penguin

[VF5SS]

[tim31]

Thoughts:

*This belongs in SLAM
*That was pretty amazing, the fluidity surprised me. It's only a matter of time before the Japanese have put this into a gynoid.
*This isn't a joke?

[VF5SS]

I thought it was funny at first but then the surreal images astounded me.

[Crossroads Inc.]

IOm sorry but the flying penguin blimps are freaking awesome, I WANT ONE.

[Simplicius]

In the promo video itself, a lot of the devices look like computer-generated images when they are first shown, in part because of the quality of the video and in part because of their shape and fluid movement. But here are the flying penguins at the Hannover trade show:



As an aside I only need to hear the phrase "...children can learn to build and program their own robots..." to make me feel like a fossilized fudd. I'm not even that old, yet I'm teetering on obsolescence...

[tim31]

In the promo video itself, a lot of the devices look like computer-generated images when they are first shown, in part because of the quality of the video and in part because of their shape and fluid movement

This is what I'm getting at. For me, there was no uncanny valley. It was so graceful and elegant that it looked like something alive, even though I knew it was not organic.

[Oskuro]

Why did I think of Borg Cubes when the lego-esque blocks showed up?

Also, the 3d "printer" would be awesome if it ever yielded a consumer-affordable device.
Agreed about how the flying penguins looked CGI at first, and those Interactive walls, if ever used in a seriour building (that is, not in a theme park) will never stop scaring the shit out of passers-by.

I agree with the SLAM nomination.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Thirded on SLAM nom.

Oskuro, try a RepRap, I guess

[weemadando]

Fourthed for SLAM.

I thought that this was some kind of weird viral video until the confirmation stuff was posted.

Just... Shit. WOW.

Is this a bad time to say "I for one welcome our new AI penguin blimp overlords?"

[tim31]

Why don't we just skip the pretense and call them Combine Gunships straight up?

[Simplicius]

I don't know a damn thing about robotics or actuating mechanisms so I can't offer any comment, but here's a blog article about the 'fluidic muscle' technology that is actuating the penguins and Festo's other blimp/submersible projects:

Festo has helped Berlin-based bionics research company Evologics to develop an unusual remote-controlled fish, whose form and kinematics are modelled on the movement patterns of the manta ray. Known as Aqua-ray, the fish uses an innovative water-hydraulic drive unit coupled with Festo fluidic muscles to produce smoothly flowing muscular movements, which are transformed into the dynamic flapping of a wing to propel it through the water. Created primarily to demonstrate the design flexibility of fluid power, the artificial manta ray provides a highly manoeuvrable remote sensing platform, with potential applications in marine research and for inspecting undersea pipelines and cables.

The analysis of movement through water has established that rays are perfectionists in submarine ‘flight’ and gliding. The up-and-down motion of their pectoral fin in water closely resembles the flapping of a bird’s wings in the air. This wavelike movement perfectly combines maximum propulsion with minimum energy consumption. The streamlined form lends graceful movement to the manta ray, in particular, and makes it a veritable submarine acrobat.

The Aqua-ray uses Festo fluidic muscles as actuators. These consist of hollow elastomer tubes with integrated woven Aramide fibres. When the muscle is filled with fluid (air or water), its diameter increases and it contracts longitudinally, giving rise to smoothly flowing elastic movement. In conjunction with Evologics’ patented Fin Ray Effect, the fluidic muscles constitute Aqua-ray’s central propulsion and control unit. The Fin Ray Effect is derived from the functional anatomy of a fish’s fin and almost perfectly imitates the mode of propulsion executed by the natural model.

It is entirely due to the mechanics of the bony rods that constitute the fin’s supporting structure that the wing can be arched to ensure even distribution of forces; this makes for a highly efficient drive mechanism. Like a heart, Aqua-ray’s water-driven central vane cell pump generates the propulsion energy. This is conveyed in the form of pressure via specially developed valves to three opposing pairs of fluidic muscles. Their contraction force is transferred by high-strength artificial tendons to the wings and the tail, which in turn transform the tendon travel of 55mm into a vertical wing amplitude of more than 550mm.

Through the use of new elastic materials for all moving components and the 3D-deformable skin, and by matching the elasticity and self-adaptive characteristics of the internal wing and tail structures to the hydrodynamic forces, it has been possible to reproduce the kinematics of nature’s marine model. The change in direction of force effected by the tendons makes it possible to relocate the dorsal and thoracic muscles to the side, providing more room for energy storage and transformation components along with the control and sensory units.

The requirements regarding technology and performance efficiency - such as payload - could thus be reconciled with the biological advantages of aquatic movement. Aqua-ray is highly manoeuvrable and can be operated either as a hydrostatic glider or with actively flapping wings. This makes for considerable energy savings. Thanks to its form and its mode of propulsion, Aqua-ray is suitable for application in diverse fields of marine research without disturbance to the natural environment. Its smooth contours and lack of rotating parts such as propellers make it particularly suitable for use in environmentally sensitive areas.

What is particularly interesting, given the recent thread on the Luke Arm, is that the technology has been applied to a robotic arm patterned off a human arm as well.



It looks too massive to be used in prosthetic applications, but there might be aspects of the device that could be applied to replacement arms.

With that, I guess there is some SLAM-worthy text in here, though people smarter than I will have to raise the caliber of the discussion.

[Academia Nut]

At the risk of sounding too much 'Me too', that is fucking awesome, and yeah, I thought those penguin blimps were CG at first until they had the close ups and I could say "Yeah, those are real". I think the biggest bit is the fact that these things have very fluid movements such that they look organic rather than mechanical.

As for the science side, I'm actually probably most interested in their fabricator, as it seems to combine precision movement and placement with high adaptability, although since they only gave it like 10 seconds of screen time its hard to say. Very interesting technology there, even if it is probably just in its infancy.

Overall, if I could, I would probably enjoy working with these guys, although this seems primarily to be their tech demo for "See, we're not just boring industrial stuff actuators and such!"

[Broomstick]

As an aside I only need to hear the phrase "...children can learn to build and program their own robots..." to make me feel like a fossilized fudd. I'm not even that old, yet I'm teetering on obsolescence...

Welcome to the old farts' club - I started feeling that way when we got cellphones smaller than bricks and PDA's.

And yes, the technology is very, very cool.

[charlemagne]

Flying penguins! Man, that really is awesome. The way they move is a bit uncanny, though, once you realise that it's a ROBOT. Seeing this honestly feels like an important step was taken, or something like that.

[aerius]

I didn't even know Festo made this kind of stuff. Back when I was in the electronics manufacturing industry, some of the companies I worked for used Festo equipment, but that was pretty simple stuff like the air cylinders and other pneumatics they're famous for along with other factory automation & production line equipment. I would never have guessed that they'd make flying penguin blimps and actually swimming penguins. The gripper arm I can see them making since that has production line applications, but not the penguins and the interactive moving wall.

[TheLostVikings]

I would never have guessed that they'd make flying penguin blimps and actually swimming penguins. The gripper arm I can see them making since that has production line applications, but not the penguins and the interactive moving wall.

I guess that's sort of the whole point of making them. Showcasing their technological prowess in a way easily captures peoples imagination, and make them more likely to check out a presentation that what's "just" a (comparatively) boring actuator tech.

Because even though that actuator arm was pretty neat it certainly doesn't have the immediate visual impact of those amazing swimming terminator-penguins, or the penguin-blimps casually swimming trough the air.

I bet the latter makes tons of people come over to ask ask what they are, which obviously is partly the reason why they were made in the first place.

[Marko Dash]

until i noticed the glowing eyes I thought the aquatic versions were real penguins. i wonder how well the penguin blimp can scale up, and how efficient it is compared to propeller/thruster blimps? could you imagine one of these things Goodyear blimp sized, roaming around within the general area of the stadium?

[CaptainChewbacca]

After watching that video, it seems to me that Festo is the kind of company that would be run by a James Bond villain.

[Ilya Muromets]

Wow, those things really look rather graceful. I'd love to have one of those things hovering around my room. It's relaxing just looking at them.

After watching that video, it seems to me that Festo is the kind of company that would be run by a James Bond villain.

The name actually reminds me of Zest-O, a local juice packing company.

[Molyneux]

My initial reaction on seeing the penguin blimps was sheer, stunned denial - that there was simply no way that anything that bizarrely beautiful, that flying-cars-level science-fictiony, could exist.

On seeing the second video, I'm still not totally convinced...but I am very, very impressed.
Depending on the production cost, those Replicator-esque cubes could be one hell of a toy for the next generation of kids, too. Hell, I would pay through the nose for a set of those and a programming manual.