Flying Bionic Penguin robots by German Festo

Did you ever dream with silver flying penguins..? Well, the German company Festo made them real for you. Note that the video you are about to watch bellow is not virtual reality, it is about real bionic robots... that fly.

Festo is a worldwide leading supplier of pneumatic and electrical automation technology with headquarters in Esslingen, Germany. They specialized in all aspects of pneumatics, also counts with a unique offering in the field of industrial training and vocational education. You may visit their main website and browse "innovation" to see the array of incredible robotic recreations they have developed at http://www.festo.com/cms/de_de/11514_11562.htm#id_11517

Using their flippers, the mechanical penguins can paddle through water just like real ones, while larger helium-filled designs can "swim" through the air.  Each penguin carries a 3D sonar developed by EvoLogics in Berlin, Germany, which is used to monitor its surroundings and avoid collisions with walls or other penguins. Read more about the them at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16996-bionic-penguins-take-to-the-water--and-the-skies.html and a future octopus at http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127006.500-robot-octopus-will-go-where-no-sub-has-gone-before.html 

Some more ludic recreations are the air and aqua jelly and an interactive wall, many robotic arms, an incredible bionic tripod gripper, the fun molecubes and more. The technology developed to produce these bionic entities has practical use in the industrial world, as for example, the Festo tripod that can twist up to 90° in any direction. Watch it work at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rlR_opLVxM&feature=related