Festo AirJelly flies through the air with the greatest of ease
By Paul Miller 
posted April 28th 2008 5:46PM
posted April 28th 2008 5:46PM
posted April 28th 2008 5:46PM
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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