Festo

We've seen some impressive nature-inspired flying bots from the creative minds at Festo's Bionic Learning Network over the years, but the autonomous BionicBee is not only the smallest so far but also the first capable of swarming.

Festo has good form for pushing the envelope in robot development, previously showing off bio-inspired bot versions of ants, a kangaroo, flying penguins and more. Now the firm has revealed the latest developments, including aerobatic BionicSwifts.

​If you were using a robotic hand to manipulate delicate objects, you'd probably prefer that hand to be soft and gentle instead of hard and bony – plus it would help if the thing could teach itself how to perform tasks. Well, those are the selling features of Festo's new prototype BionicSoftHand.

​It was just back in March that German electrical automation company Festo unveiled two of its latest robots inspired by animals – a crawling/rolling spider and a flying fox bat. Now, it's taken the wraps off BionicFinWave, which moves like a cuttlefish.

​Festo, the German electrical automation company that previously brought us a robotic dragonfly, kangaroo and penguin, is back with a couple of new creations – a spider that can roll like a wheel, and a bat that flies by autopilot.

After a quick introduction yesterday, we take a closer look at Festo's OctopusGripper, a versatile gripper for the production line of tomorrow. The Future Concepts robot has been designed to safely pick up, securely hold and gently put down objects in the workplace.

The Bionic Learning Network arm of German automation company Festo has revealed three bio-inspired robots ahead of the Hannover Messe trade fair in April, a tentacle-packing pick and pack gripper and two lightweight robots designed for fluid movement.​

Rather than gradually forming an object layer by layer like a desktop extruder, the 3D Cocooner from Festo works more like a sophisticated robotic version of a CreoPop 3D printing pen, hardening the printed material with UV light as the structure is formed.

Ahead of this month's Hannover Messe trade show in Germany, Festo's Bionic Learning Network has previewed a new helium-filled flyer dubbed the FreeMotionHandling concept that's able to take hold of an object, pick it up and fly it to another location for drop off.

As a taste of things to come at next month's Hannover Messe trade show in Germany, Festo has revealed three new biomimetic creations: a small colony of ants, a gripper modeled on a chameleon's tongue and some fine flyers in the shape of some big blue butterflies.

Back in 2011, Festo created a natural-flight mimicking bionic seagull with flapping wings dubbed SmartBird. The company is now looking to apply similar principles in order to convert wind power into electricity with its DualWingGenerator system.

Festo has developed a robotic dragonfly named BionicOpter that's capable of maneuvering in all directions, hovering in mid-air and gliding without beating its wings.