Robotic Jellyfish that Move Autonomously

Festo, a German engineering firm known for finding inspiration in biology, recently unveiled its two newest robots at the Hannover Festival.

Picture courtesy of Gizmodo

The AquaJelly and AirJelly share the same basic form - a sphere surrounded by eight mechanical tentacles run off lithium-ion batteries. In the case of the AquaJelly which functions underwater, the central sphere is a laser sealed vacuum, while the flying (floating) Air Jelly's center is a helium balloon. Most interestingly, the AquaJelly is autonomous in that it "guides itself with the help of a sensor array, communications systems and control software based on robotic swarm-intelligence."

As explained in Design News, "Whether they swim or fly, these two types of jellyfish steer themselves by carefully controlled weight shifts. As Fischer explains, their bodies contain a servo-driven swash plate connected to a four-armed pendulum that changes their center of gravity. 'The pendulum shifts their weight, and they move in a new direction,' he says"... ok, this is where we defer to the experts and suggest you read more on their post. Feel free to stick around and watch the awesome videos though:

AquaJelly

AirJelly

The Jellies' artificial intelligence is being called into question after they both selected Yanni as the soundtrack to their videos.