AquaJelly and AirJelly

You may remember the company Festo that created such awesome products like the Air Ray and its water born cousin Aqua Ray which were both featured here on Neatorama.

AquaJelly and AirJelly are two unique creations that Festo has developed to test out ideas on adaptive drives and electronics. Combined with the simplicity of the form of the Jellyfish the two Jelly robots are quite astounding in its ability to move and interact with the surrounding area. Roborama.info had this say about these two robots:

Festo, has developed a graceful robot inspired by a creature of the sea. In fact, they have developed two versions, both based on the common jellyfish: the AquaJelly and the AirJelly. According to Festo, the AquaJelly is “an artificial autonomous jellyfish with an electric drive and an intelligent, adaptive mechanical system.” Apparently the idea is to have several of the robots autonomously working together using a communication system composed of Zigbee short-range radio on the surface and LEDs when underwater.

As for the AirJelly, this remote controlled device can glide through the air using a helium-filled ballonet, a central electric drive and an intelligent, adaptive mechanical system. Apparently, this design offers “fascinating possibilities for “lighter-than-air” aviation.” I’m not sure about all of that, but I can at see how the technology behind the AquaJelly could have some practical application on complex underwater projects.

I would love to see both of these in action, especially, AquaJelly which I would buy a whole box full and put in a pool at night just to see them swim about in LED goodness.

YouTube – [Link]