Festo AirJelly flies through the air with the greatest of ease
By Paul Miller 
posted Apr 28th 2008 5:46PM
posted Apr 28th 2008 5:46PM
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baller.
I think now it's pretty clear what the 'over' in 'overlord' is hinting at...
KYJelly!
"Hi, is this the XYZ business? Can I please borrow your atrium to test-fly by giant jellyfish?"
xyz: yes you can use our atrium, but the air conditioning creates a wind speed of .5 mph inside the building.
abc: that might be an issue...
This is so very useful.
This is so very awesome.
ummm wow that is crazy!
Mmmm, calamari...
uh squid?
lets see spongebob catch that thing!!
wow
Cool
wow...when can i buy one....i wanna use it to commute to work.. :)
i'll second that
Its probably filled with helium, after a while it will wear out and will likely not be able to float. I don't see any real world use for this.
Making a video and uploading it to youtube qualifies as a real-world use to me.
"..a lithium-ion battery, an electric motor and a bit of helium."
isnt it possible to make something that doesnt let the helium atom out? so wouldnt that make it so the helium would stay inside of it forever?
Polyester (The plastic in mylar, mylar being metalized polyester) is pretty impermeable to helium.
It doesn't necessarily have to have a direct Real World Application. considering all the crap that we make that is unnecessary (ie. Hello Kitty laptops, Windows - Millenium Edition, et cetera), these make themselves worthwhile by the simple reality of being interesting.
I think the underwater version being able to have some Real World Application, even if they simply swim around tourist areas to entertain people.
Totalfixation is just bitter because he doesn't have a flying robot jellyfish.
@Asha - Don't forget Vista
Real world use? Here's one. If I end up with owning a huge company with a large atrium like that, I will fill it with a family of these things. They will be autonomous, entertain customers and double as a security force when I put freakin' lasers on them.
I agree. Carrying humans would make it useful.
I think dropping humans from a great height would be even more useful.
congratulations on the dumbest comment of this entry! :D
Reminds me a little bit of the Microdrones (http://www.microdrones.com/) that were making the rounds on the internet recently. Although this is admittedly cooler, given that 1. it's a jellyfish and 2. the concept of using helium in a microdrone-like design is quite novel. Not quite as useful for surveillance purposes as a Microdrone, but still quite a feat of engineering. Thumbs up.
My god. Its completely useless, but awe inspiring all the same. This is the kind of stuff that,well, inspires people to get into engineering.
And I want one! Pointless crap that it is, I want one!
It's not pointless. Look how nice adverts would look on that thing. Paint it red, a few white stripes, and Coke all over the place.
Or get like 50, all different colours, and you make a rainbow! Ah, how very fun.
Aesthetics are not without use.
Are Half Life Striders the AirJelly's inspiration? Or inevitable evolution?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mrxCOMofhUU
Trouble Bubbles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF4DV7K7NQo
I think maybe the inspiration was a jellyfish. I just get the feeling that's what they were going after....
Try Dark Crystal Landstriders http://youtube.com/watch?v=-DBkjvXHgj4
AirJelly... tastes like real jelly.
All of the great flavor, none of the calories.
It's a bit... crunchy.
Wow that is SO neato!
Now as long as all you want to do it go up straight you're all set!
What!!!?
You want to come DOWN!?
You want to...to...to...to TURN!?
Sheesh.
Use your eyes and look at the video. Does it look to you like it doesn't move left and right? Is it impossible to land? (end of video)
Lol!
Yes, those damn air conditioner ducts do tend to blow air around, huh?
There's a reason the "demo" was done indoors, ya know.
And why the demo did not include a takeoff, cruise, landing uncut.
Turning is actually one of the cooler looking things it could do.. Just angle the fins, and watch it rotate...
Can you say 'awesome desktop background animation'?
All i have to say is, Hot Air Balloon.
It has the same problems as this, not being able to turn, but they're still around and they led to other interesting inventions.
Give them solar panels and let them populate the skies and seas!
Von Neumann air jellies?! HECK YES.
..they have to be able to collect building materials though, and that may not be easy..
yes i can see that......
Pilot 1 :"Hey Bob look at that cloud..."
Pilot 2 : "THATS NO CLOUD... ITS KILLER AIRJELLY........"
this completely squanders helium, which is running out, uses petroleum based plastics and serves no useful purpose. Sustainable, not. There is no sensible reason to replicate them.
Like Ethana2 said, a "Von Neumann air jellie". Just paint the tops silver... I can see the headlines in the year 2050 "Von Neumann air jellies save earth from global warming!! New ice age to begin in 30 min."
Errr... how do we get rid of them when there work is done. Hmmm. they are elctronic in nature maybe an EMP would wipe them out. But there's so many of them we'd need a realy beg EMP. Oh yea! We still have some of those old nuke's laying around from the dark ages of the cold war. Those would work!
Y'know, a dirigible UAV would probably be a better design than the helicopter-style ones they're making today. Well, unless someone shoots it down.
Still, if this thing could carry solar panels, like Trond mentioned... fill a city and see what happens :)
Add a deathray and hook it up to skynet!
I keep thinking this is how the sentinels from the matrix might've started off as...
I thought I killed the last of those damned Metroids!
This looks alot like a UFO that was on UFO Hunters the other week!
It amazes me how quickly people write this off as "useless" and lacking "real world" application. How much wonderful science and technology comes from being imaginative? How much more creative could we be if we didn't worry about practicality first?
Do the jelly-fish fins on the air version really do anything other than flap?
It looks like they just robo-nated the jellyfish anatomy. Not very creative.
The cool thing is the motion of the arms. It could be applied to watercraft in a useful way if it is as efficient as jellyfish movement.
On the contrary, mimicking the beauty of nature is a very creative thing to be doing in its own right...
Aren't you glad God isn't one of those idiots who patents everything? ; )
Jellyfish shoot water out of their cavity to propel themselves; they have no muscles. This does nothing of the sort. It just looks like a Jellyfish; they did not "robo-nate" Jellyfish anatomy.
Perhaps if they were to add deadly stinging chemicals to the fins... then the War Department might find further development.
i see it now hundreds of flying jellyfish add bots, powered by a dozen RF tags and a little solar panel, carrying a OLED screen toshing ads in your face (personalized from data gathered form all your RF credit Cards). but atlest they're art full about it
Meh, the one at Farpoint Station grants your wishes.
I dont even know you.. but I hate you for bringing up "Encounter at Farpoint"
And this is useful for what?
Oh man. Now i want one of those giant inflatable Spongebob balloons and have it chase after this thing. That would be totally EPIC.
It's a balloon. It's a balloon with big flappy arms. BALLOON. They invented those like 300 years ago.
I guess the resemblance it has to a jellyfish is an artistic twist, though.
I ｈｏｐｅ ｉｍ ａｌｌｏｗｅｄ ｔｏ ｓａｙ ｔｈｉｓ， ｂｕｔ
Ｔｈａｔ． Ｉｓ ｆｕｃｋｉｎｇ ｂｅａｕｔｉｆｕｌ．
WHAT?!? What magicks did you do to pull the type font out of thin interwebs?
Wouldn't the lift from the helium be too small to ohh uhm oh oooooh pretty.
You all dont get it.
It is not about the jellyfish and its uses (it doesnt have much use per se), its about the engineering and technology behind it.
Festo has built a lot of such stuf (like a floating stingray) to show of its technologies.
The real use behind it (im guessing it uses their air muscle or what they are called) is in robotics and automation.
This is just some kind of advertising to gain attentiontion at the non scientific crowd.
would engadget have posted about a paper aobut their technology? no.
but a flying jellyfish? hell yeah.
qwert
I think they are beautiful...
granted they might not have that many real world applications... but some the the technology is probably useful.
plus they would be great for indoor advertising.
wow
This has real potential for use in space exploration, on water covered planets once found, could see NASA being interested in the concept at least, make it a bit more solid stick a few sensors and cameras on it and send it in to outer space or on a planet as a new kind of air rover
The main feat here is the engineering aspects, not a question of application(s). It should be applauded that Festo was able to simulate a jellyfish. The more engineering feats this world solves the greater tools we have to create new applications.
I think we will see some uses for this, Its just a question of where and when.
I'm surprised at the lack of Flying Spaghetti Monster comments. Maybe it needs a few more noodly appendages before it elicits that image.
Why?
Did anyone else also get the urge to jam a screwdriver through their eardrums? Who chose the background "music" for this clip?
I a m h a c k z i n g y o u r i n t e r w e b s ?
These are the same people who did the Manta Ray http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=217_1206491494&p=1 which I personally think was far more impressive.
@all the snide comments
...yeah, I'm sure you can't generate escape velocity with it, or fly it in a typhoon but know what? I'm sure ol' O & W were plenty thrilled with their little bird on the sands of kittyhawk despite how flimsy it was and how short it flew...
...you yammerin' Luddites, other than a collosal poo after a night of cheap domestic beer and greasy wings, what have you produced lately? A poo and a snide comment. WooHoo.
I think it is exceptionally cool, creative and mesmerizing. I'd like one, just for the Hell of it.
what a beauty, reminds me of an nvidia demo years ago, called squid I think.
OMG! this is totally awesome!
There are tons of uses for this type of craft.
1) It does not require carbon fuel, so someday this will substitute flying aircraft!
2) Other than "ads" as people pointed out. This create a floating station to place spy radars.
3) For commercial use, floating wireless/broadband stations.
4) Also, this is directional air floating device. Maybe this can be used to haul personal objects in place of the mail service. Think of UPS!
5) Add a camera, and you got home surveillance device, Traffic monitor.
Duh!!
The aquaJelly looks like they were having a harder time moving than the airjelly. and the aquajelly video looked like a bunch of machines boning. specially at the end when the jelly "docks" or connects into that other thing.
Ohhhhh purtyyyyy
I want one. I wanna re-enact Lord Jabu-Jabu from Ocarina of Time :D
Or I wanna kill one with the Fork of Horripilation hehehehe
Beautiful, just use composite materials, add instrumentation and release these into the atmosphere for atmospheric monitoring.
To the person grumbling about helium, if these can be made reusable they will be better than radiosonde balloons which burst and release their helium and cause problems for wildlife.
Does any one know where this is?
Alos ide welcome the robot uprising when these havebeen fitted with sentient technology. It would be nifty