The German electrical Automation company, Festo, has a great shape for pushing envelopes in the development of robots, which previously showcased the bot version of ants inspired by bio, kangaroo, flying penguins, and much more. Now, the company’s engineers have revealed the latest developments, including Bionic Swifts aerobatic.
Each of the five robo-birds developed by Festo’s Bionic Learning Network has a wingspan of 68 cm (26.7 in), a body length of 44.5 cm (17.5 in) and a weighing tip at 42 g (1.48 oz). In the body, Festo has been stuffing wing-fitting mechanisms and control components, radios and localization technologies, brushless electric motors, two servo, batteries and gearboxes.
For the impressive wings, Lamella individual foam is connected to the carbon pen, which in turn is attached to the wing structure in a manner similar to what you find on the actual bird. When the wings pack down, Lamella closes the line to lift the robo-bird, but they wander during the upstroke style to allow air through the wings, requiring less power to pull the wings upwards. And these all adds give the Bionic Swifts for better flight profile than the previous wing beating design, according to Festo.
Flying bots cannot fly in any old room, only one has a radio module installed to serve as anchor location. Each bird has a radio marker that sends signals to the anchors so that proper positioning in the room can be tracked by the computer acting as a navigation system to set the programmed route.
It serves the establishment of precision flying without crashing against each other or anything in the room, and if the flight path is interrupted by things like wind or thermal, the birds will be able to make autonomous corrections, even if the road ahead is obscured by an obstacle.
As usual for Festo demonstrations, the engineers have a practical real-world application in mind when developing prototypes. In this case, the goal is to show off the indoor 3D navigation system for free cameras that can be used in automated factories from the future. But, from now on, sit back and enjoy the video BionicSwifts doing their thing.
Festo’s technical and education team, Didactic has also presented a bio-inspired robotic flower construction kit, developed with SkySpirit. Based on mimosa and water lilies, the bionic flower opens and closes its petals in response to touch, closeness, or light.
This Kit is for classes to support STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. where one flower is assigned to three students aged 10 or older. After constructing flowers, the movement and lighting effects can be controlled using smartphones, tablets, or computers that support Wi-Fi.
The graphical coding interface called Open Roberta can be programmed into microcontrollers, or more experienced students can write their own code in C++. And teachers can download the supporting materials for free from the website Bionics4Education.
Another collaboration, this time with ETH Zurich, also resulted in an autonomous BionicMobileAssistant on the next generation of BionicSoftHand. Looking into the future where the production line operators and robots work closer together, the setup consists of a mobile robot base, and an electric robot arm and a BionicSoftHand 2.0 module.
It’s Not only allows Bionic Mobile Assistant to maintain its balance, but also moves in any direction, which can be done autonomously. The hand is the last of a lightweight robotic arm and features pneumatic radii and opposite thumb consisting of structural elements such as bone and flexible bellows surrounded by knitted fabrics.
Engineers have increased their thumbs and index fingers play range for higher precision, and the hands can move back and forth, on the left and right side, thanks to a 3D printed wrist that moves two degrees of freedom.
Although this prototype has been designed for the factory floor, it can also perform the role of a service robot, perform inspections, perform maintenance or repair tasks, or perform data measurements.
