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Articles tagged with: ‘Bionics‘

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Biomimicry could help development of self-cleaning materials

By Rob Aid
One Comment10 June 2009

dropletHumans have always wondered how water beads roll off flowers, as well off caterpillars and some other insects, and how insects like water striders are able to walk on water. It’s a property called super hydrophobia. Self-cleaning counter tops, fabrics, walls, even micro-robots that can walk on water – all those things and more could… »

Bionics| Robotics»

Robot octopus shows great potential as an addition to mini subs

By Rob Aid
2 Comments23 May 2009

recording-beta.jpgCecilia Laschi, of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, and her colleagues are attempting to build a robot with arms that work in the same way that octopuses’ tentacles do. Having no solid skeleton, it will be the world’s first entirely soft robot. Their goal is to use the knowledge related to the principles that give… »

Bionics| Robotics»

AirPenguin – flying robot penguins, what’s next?

By Damir Beciri
4 May 2009

eff8cbb8-2b6e-11de-982d-001ec9efd5b0-f60913311c0baa7fc0ad627a14b87496.jpgFolks from German company Festo keep creating bionic marine animals which float in air. Penguins are fascinating creatures which have lost their ability to fly in the course of their genetic development as marine birds, but Festo engineers  managed to create an artificial penguin and taught it “autonomous flight in the sea of air”. Named… »

Bionics| Robotics»

Stenzel HeXoR II – a teaching aid for schools and research institutions

By Damir Beciri
28 April 2009

01.jpgThe Stenzel Ltd. from Poland is a unique commercial-scientific venture in the Central Europe area. They are developing HeXoR, a mobile didactic robot which has been designed as a teaching aid for schools and research institutions. It can be lots of fun if you are an enthusiast, who is keen on robotics, informatics and electronics… »

Bionics| Robotics»

Festo AquaPenguin inovates autonomous underwater vehicles

By Damir Beciri
2 Comments27 April 2009

cc_08_09_aquapenguin_1_200px.jpgBesides being cute, penguins are amazingly good swimmers. In their search for food, penguins often travel more than a hundred kilometers per day; they are able to dive in depths up to 700 meters. They are fast n the water, have a great deal of endurance and are astoundingly agile and can reach a top… »

Bionics»

Bionic hand – i-LIMB

By Damir Beciri
One Comment11 April 2009

Lindsay with i-LIMB handRemember “Star Wars” and Luke’s artificial hand? Our reality isn’t too far away because Scottish company called Touch Bionics developed a “bionic hand” for amputees, called the i-LIMB. i-LIMB is one of the most sophisticated prosthetic hand commercially available, as it lets the wearer assume different grips by sensing electrical impulses in the muscles in… »

Bionics»

Bionic eye – Eyeborg

By Damir Beciri
3 Comments10 April 2009

steve-photo-eye-operation-led.jpgCanadian filmmaker Rob Spence damaged his right eye as a 13-year-old while playing with his grandfather’s gun, and eventually had surgery to wear a non-functional prosthetic eye. Engineer Kosta Grammatis has succeeded in placing a working red LED in Spence’s eye  giving him a look similar to the star cyborg in The Terminator. It is… »