Festo Turns An Elephant’s Trunk Into A Robotic Arm

Smart engineers copy ideas. Great engineers copy nature. Festo’s Bionic Handling Assistant is a robot arm modeled on an elephant’s trunk (or Dr. Octavius if you’re a Spiderman fan), and it has all the supple flexibility of the original. Using hollow plastic chambers that change size with air pressure, the Bionic Handling Assistant can move through an incredible range of motion in three dimensions. It’s designed to provide gentle forces, and to give when pushed, making it safe for working with humans in a working environment.

The Bionic Handling Assistant was developed through Festo’s Bionic Learning Network, a coordinated group of industrial and academic research partners interested in bringing nature inspired concepts to robotics.  However, all this biology inspired innovation is really only going to be useful if we can find the right applications. Opportunities for the Bionic Handling Assistant in medicine, manufacturing, and mechanical repair are shown below.

For a better idea of how the pressurized air allows the Bionic Handling Assistant to move, here’s a more detailed animation of the robot arm:

No matter where it eventually is applied, the Bionic Handling Assistant is a good sign that engineers have a lot to work with when mimicking natural structures. With all the humanoid robots running shuffling around it’s important to remember that the primate form is only one of many successful architectures we should be copying. Robots that swim like fish, fly like insects, and form colonies like bees could all have crucial applications in the years ahead as we continue to explore the world. It will be interesting to see which animals the Festo Bionic Learning Network pursues next.

www.festo.com

Electric Actuator EGC

Festo announces the addition of the Electric Actuator EGC to the family of electromechanical actuators. The EGC is designed for high dynamic speeds and high rigidity. This modular actuator can be used as an individual component adapted to third-party motors or as a complete system provided by one source – Festo.

The EGC offers a broad range of options including:
–Toothed belt or ball screw actuator
–Different screw pitches available
–Sizes 70, 80, 120, 185 (ball screw)
–Sizes 50, 70, 80, 120, 185 (toothed belt)

Performance Highlights
–High speeds and feed forces
–High loads and torques
–Maximum rigidity

In addition to these impressive features, the EGC offers an excellent price-performance ratio. Due to the high performance and rigidity of the EGC, a smaller size actuator can be used to save both space and costs.

www.festo.com/us/egc

Mission: Efficiency

Think-tank for mechatronics and miniaturization

How do machinery and equipment manufacturers keep up with worldwide competition? With (energy) efficient solutions! “Mechatronics, miniaturization, piezo technology and systems technology are catchwords which aren’t just pointing the way towards more efficiency in emerging business areas like photovoltaic”, says Dr. Eberhard Veit, chairman of the board of directors at Festo AG.

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Intelligent Automation Trio

When it comes to repositioning small parts quickly and flexibly, the combined tripod camera system really hits the mark. This complete solution from Festo, consisting of robotic controller, high-speed camera and fast electric drives, is delivered as a ready-to-install subsystem, thus saving both time and money.
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One Size Never Fits All

Sometimes a lot is made of new technology. There is a tendency to talk about the next big thing in whatever field as “The Solution”. But there’s rarely just one solution that works for everyone.

Currently in the “car wars” (a favorite topic, since we are all effected by gasoline prices) many ideas have been advanced as “The Solution”. We heard a lot about bio-fuels reducing our dependency on oil by 30%, but now are primarily contributing to rising food prices. Hydrogen fuel cells will replace gasoline engines, but not anytime soon because we don’t have an infrastructure that can produce hydrogen as a fuel, nor an acceptable means to store it. And so it goes. This progression of ideas, and attempts to market same, makes the point that there is rarely a single solution that suits everyone. Read more