Festo has a knack for creating incredibly realistic robotic animals (see Dragonfly & Jellyfish). The company’s new product is the Robotic Kangaroo seen above.
“On the artificial kangaroo, Festo intelligently combines pneumatic and electrical drive technology to produce a highly dynamic system. The stable jump kinematics plus the precise control technology ensure stability when jumping and landing. The consistent lightweight construction facilitates the unique jumping behaviour. The system is controlled by gestures.”
I still have no idea who purchases these robotic animals. What functional use do they have? Regardless, I am glad they do. If I had the money, I would have one of these hopping around my apartment right now.
Festo has now created jellyfish, penguins, kangaroos, and dragonflies… It would be pretty amazing to attend a company happy hour and see all of these animals moving around in the same space. Maybe they could make a robotic zoo of sorts?
The ocean is full of trash. If you don’t believe me, check out this post. Just like Mandy Barker, artist Gilles Cenazandotti was inspired by the mass of ocean debris which affects our habitat. The animal sculptures above (from a project titled “Future Bestiary”) were formed from recycled products found on beaches — plastic bottles, lighters, combs, bags, etc…
Speaking about his work Cenazandotti said:
“Impressed by everything that the Sea, in turn, rejects and transforms, on the beaches I harvest the products derived from petroleum and its industry. The choice of animals that are part of the endangered species completes this process. buy vardenafil generic noprescriptionbuyonlinerxx.net over the counter
In covering these animals with a new skin harvested from the banks of the Sea, I hope to draw attention to this possible metamorphosis – to create a trompe l’oeil of a modified reality. buy aciphex generic buynoprescriptiononlinerxx.com over the counter
“Chella Ride” is a new track from the group, Dog Blood, a musical collaboration between Skrillex and Boyz Noize. The animated music video really caught my eye. It’s an incredible production by the folks over at Golden Wolf. They implemented multiple techniques such as 3d, 2d, cel animation and live action footage to create a gritty, hard-hitting animation style. buy professional pack viagra online https://www.mabvi.org/wp-content/languages/en/professional-pack-viagra.html no prescription
The technique involves drawing on clear plastic sheets (gets its name from “celluloid” sheets) and then laying these images over a static background drawing. buy premarin online https://www.mabvi.org/wp-content/languages/en/premarin.html no prescription
Photographer Tim Flach puts the viewer up close and personal with animals in his series titled, “More Than Human.” The viewpoint is intimate to say the least.
Here’s a quote from the artist:
“The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, is certainly one of degree and not of kind. We have seen that the senses and intuitions, the various emotions and faculties, such as love, memory, attention, curiosity, imitation, reason, etc., of which man boasts, may be found in an incipient, or even sometimes in a well-developed condition, in the lower animals. buy kamagra generic noprescriptionbuyonlinerxx.com over the counter
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We live in an unbalanced relationship with our animal friends on this planet, relying on them for food, labor, entertainment, and companionship. I often hear vegetarians say that “animals are my friends, and I do not eat my friends!” Of course, the carnivore trait is ingrained in our history and culture. buy nexium generic noprescriptionbuyonlinerxx.net over the counter
I wouldn’t expect lions to stop eating gazelles, but I do think it’s a good idea to at least question our relationship with animals. The more we learn about the brains of animals, the more we realize how similar they are to us. buy Buspar generic noprescriptionbuyonlinerxx.com over the counter
As Tim pointed out, they have consciousness, fear, curiosity, and a host of other emotions we identify as prototypically human.
Seeing the animals photographed in this intimate way destroys the artificial boundary placed between us.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest, darkest portion of the ocean. Its maximum-known depth is 10,911 meters, which is over 2000 meters deeper than Mount Everest is tall. Light only travels about 1000 meters into the ocean water, so more than 90% of the Mariana Trench exists in complete darkness. This absence of light creates wild-looking animals that don’t seem to come from this world, so I thought it would be interesting to highlight some of the alien creatures here on the site. I must admit, they all look a bit terrifying…
The image at the top is a photograph of the Deep Sea Anglerfish. It gets its name from an elongated dorsal spine that supports a light-producing organ, which it uses as a fishing lure to attract prey. It then uses those giant teeth to finish the victims off.
The Barreleye fish is very strange. What you think are sad looking eyes are actually decoys, and the real eyes are those large, globes under the transparent dome of soft tissue. Stephen Colbert called it the craziest F&@*ing thing he’s ever seen.
Benthocodon is a genus of jellyfish. Like the Anglerfish, this animal uses bioluminescence to attract prey. Those red wisps on the edge of its dome are fine red tentacles, which the animal uses to propel itself quickly through the water.
The Deep Sea Dragonfish is a ferocious predator that lives at depths of up to 5000 meters. This animal is only about 6 inches long, so no need to fear for your life. It has a striking resemblance to a Chinese Dragon, which is most likely where its name comes from.
The Dumbo Octopus is straight out of a Disney movie. Its tentacles have a row of suckers and two rows of fleshy spikes for feeding. Interesting fact: they don’t have a tough tongue with teeth like many molluscs. Instead, they swallow their prey whole!
The Fanfin Seadevil is another version of the Anglerfish, yet it doesn’t use bioluminescence to attract prey. It is almost completely black, which makes it very stealthy in the dark depths of the ocean. Interesting fact: the male is only 1/2 inch long, while the female grows up to 8 inches.
The Football Fish (great name!) is a globose Anglerfish, and it is said to be the first deep-sea Anglerfish ever discovered, washing ashore on a beach in Greenland in 1833.
This Frilled Shark was discovered back in 2007 by a Japanese fisherman. Experts sometimes call this animal a “living fossil” because it belongs to a primitive species that has changed very little over millions of years.
The Goblin shark is one scary looking fish. It hunts by sensing prey with electro-sensitive organs in its snout. Once a goblin shark finds its prey, it suddenly protrudes its jaws, while using a tongue-like muscle to suck the victim into its sharp front teeth. Wow! It grows up to 3.3 meters and 159 kg.
Deep Sea Hatchetfish have extremely thin bodies which resemble the blade of a hatchet, but what I find more fascinating are those facial expressions! Apparently, its eyes can focus close up or far away.
Martensia ovum also known as the Arctic comb jelly or Sea Nut, is a ctenophore that was first described back in 1790. They can deploy tentacles that are up to 10-20 times its body length.
The Telescope Octopus gets its name from its uniquely-shaped tubular eyes. It is transparent and nearly colorless, giving it an eery ghost-like appearance.
Another Anglerfish… from my nightmares… :/
I have no idea what this thing is, nor could I find any useful information. Those sure do look like human lips though.. I could think of some creative (and NSFW) names for this one.
And last but not least, we have the Viperfish. Its fangs are so large that they can’t fit inside its mouth. Instead, they curve back very close to the fish’s eyes. The Viperfish is thought to use these sharp teeth to impale its victims by swimming at them at high speeds.
Ok, that’s all for now. It is important to note that these animals don’t really live at deepest portions of the Mariana Trench (10,000 meters +), where you’ll mostly just find bacteria and Xenophyophores. These creatures usually lurk somewhere between 1000 and 5000 meters.
Sweet dreams tonight!
Interested in this topic? You can find an awesome book on the creatures of the deep here:
It has 160 color photos of some incredible sea animals.
One of the very first posts I ever made on RobotSpaceBrain was about Festo’s robotic flying animals (jelly fish, penguins, birds). Their new toy, called the BioniCopter, is modeled after the complex flight pattern of a Dragonfly. buy Bactroban generic rxxbuynoprescriptiononline.com over the counter
The robot only weighs about 175 g and maneuvers with incredible grace. buy bupropion generic rxxbuynoprescriptiononline.com over the counter
It’s supposedly very easy to control as well, using a complex flapping motion handled by the software and electronics, allowing the pilot to use a simple smartphone app to steer the Robotic Dragonfly around in space.
How It Works:
The machine is run by an ARM microcontroller, which calculates all of the parameters relating to mechanical adjustments based on input from its sensors (accelerometers and such). The microcontroller then translates all that useful input information into control commands for the Servo motors so it can flap its wings appropriately.
Here are a few specifications from the Festo site:
General Thoughts:
Truly amazing products keep coming out of the German Festo Laboratories. I am not sure who is buying them, but of course, there are many potential applications for the high-tech flying robots. I am sure the military is keeping close tabs… buy ventolin generic rxxbuynoprescriptiononline.com over the counter
It would be interesting to see if you could scale this up and make a Giant Robotic Dragonfly…
