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Festo Designs Curvy Robotic Arms After an Elephant's Schnoz

by Caleb Johnson on April 27, 2010 at 07:27 AM

festo arms
Taking inspiration from an elephant's trunk (or maybe Dr. Octopus), a German company has built a set of robotic arms that could make it safer for humans and machines to interact. According to Engadget, Festo's Bionic Handling Assistant (BHA) is equipped with gentle and agile pincers that can safely grab something from a human without ripping off an entire limb with it. For example, if the BHA collides with something, like a worker scurrying through a factory or a doctor dealing with an instrument, it's designed to yield to, rather than plow over, said employee. (Really, it's only slightly similar to an elephant, since we're pretty sure an elephant would gladly trounce us if we tried to grab something from its trunk.)

While there's been no word as to when this robotic system will hit the market (or if it ever will), the BHA could find a range of applications -- from assisting with animal husbandry to simply helping around the house. [From: Engadget and Festo]

Tags: animals, biomimicry, elephant, octopus, research, robot, robotics, robots, top

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