Latest research projects take inspiration from nature

Both flying and gripping have a long tradition in Festo’s Bionic Learning Network. With the autonomously airborne object FreeMotionHandling, developers have united these two topic areas in a single technology carrier. This indoor flying object consists of an ultralight carbon-fibre ring, with eight adaptive propellers, around a rotatable helium ball with an integrated gripping element. Intelligent onboard electronics and indoor GPS enable the ball to manoeuvre autonomously in any desired direction, pick up objects and put them down in a suitable place. No pilot is needed to control FreeMotionHandling, but the human operator can safely and easily interact with the flight object at all times. 

Festo believes this opens up new perspectives for the workspace of the future: Spheres such as these could serve humans as airborne assistance systems – for example in overhead operations, at dizzying heights or in large storage facilities. In realising FreeMotionHandling, engineers made use of two existing developments from the Bionic Learning Network: the gripping mechanism was based on the universally applicable FlexShapeGripper, whose working principle is derived from the chameleon’s tongue; and the airborne helium ball itself is a further development of the eMotionSpheres.