[HN Gopher] Floating manta ray with beating wing drive
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       Floating manta ray with beating wing drive
        
       Author : thunderbong
       Score  : 76 points
       Date   : 2023-02-07 07:09 UTC (15 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.festo.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.festo.com)
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | From watching the video, I wonder: do the wings perform actual
       | work, or is the movement controlled in some other way?
        
       | aaron695 wrote:
       | This is about (2007)
       | 
       | Cool performance by them -
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTIqV1AloOI
       | 
       | Wish hobbyist would do more of this stuff. It's cool art.
        
       | martyvis wrote:
       | Festo have a long history making technical things fun. As a young
       | teenager some 45 years or so ago, I used to go every year with my
       | toolmaker Dad to the engineering expo in Sydney. I always recall
       | Festo putting various demonstrations of their pneumatic and
       | automation components doing fun things.
        
       | rob74 wrote:
       | Actually, they have one of these bionic "showcase projects" every
       | year (really good PR for an otherwise largely unknow company if
       | you ask me): https://www.festo.com/us/en/e/about-festo/research-
       | and-devel...
        
         | smusamashah wrote:
         | Their products are being used by military for spying. Few years
         | ago, their bird was crashed (or was shot down) in Pakistan.
         | https://www.wired.com/2011/08/weird-birdlike-mystery-drone-c...
         | 
         | EDIT: just realized from pictures that even though it looks
         | very similar, they don't look the same. But still it can be a
         | different version from the same company.
        
           | cjbgkagh wrote:
           | The drone in Pakistan was a bird shaped airplane with a prop.
           | An ornithopter is a wildly different machine.
        
           | qikInNdOutReply wrote:
           | Fest is a german company, they sell mostly valves and
           | pneumatic automation solutions to german machine building
           | companys. The bionic creatures are a nice gimick, but they
           | are not in any form or shape a finnished product.
        
       | unwind wrote:
       | Very cool, I love how life-like and kind of soothing the motion
       | is. And how it's able to flip and fly on its back, really neat!
       | 
       | Also: I just had to look this up since it's always (?) been
       | bugging me: Festo (the company in the OP) founded Festool (the
       | power tool manufacturer known for high quality, systainers, and
       | Apple-esque pricing) [2]. The logos are just soooo similar. Phew,
       | that was calming.
       | 
       | [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festo
       | 
       | [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festool
        
         | akiselev wrote:
         | Can't wait until Dewalt or Makita make a flying manta ray we
         | can actually afford.
        
       | alangibson wrote:
       | And here I thought Festo only made expensive track saws...
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | etrautmann wrote:
         | Is festool the same company?
        
           | unwind wrote:
           | No, but Festool was spun out of/founded by Festo.
        
       | progre wrote:
       | This thing is featured in the book Zero History by William Gibson
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_History
        
       | RF_Savage wrote:
       | Festo keeps on impressing with their tech demos. Not only
       | interesting tech, but also good presentation.
        
       | tmikaeld wrote:
       | What is the practical application of such tech?
        
         | johndunne wrote:
         | Pinata 2.0
        
         | ufo wrote:
         | Tech demo for a robotics company.
        
         | dragonsky wrote:
         | Keeping your technician's excited about working for your
         | company.
        
         | abudabi123 wrote:
         | Giant solar powered robo-sunfish for corraling schools of fish
         | in aquaculture is a possibility. Got to move fast and be carbon
         | neutral environment friendly.
        
       | nstart wrote:
       | Oh my goodness. I finally know who was behind the floating robot
       | at the Dubai museum of the future! Had a chance to visit it last
       | year and their flying robot was the best part of the whole
       | experience :D . Thanks for sharing this. Amazing to see all their
       | other robots at work on YouTube.
        
       | MichaelZuo wrote:
       | Very cool! Does anyone know if there have been similar 'wing
       | drive' ideas in the past?
        
       | alexpotato wrote:
       | I always wonder what it's like to be working as a non-engineering
       | person at Festo given that:
       | 
       | - they make super cool stuff
       | 
       | - they seem to test anything flying in their indoor lobby
       | 
       | - it seems a lot of their offices have windows pointing toward
       | the lobby
       | 
       | "Oh, look! Today it's a giant floating manta ray!"
        
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       (page generated 2023-02-07 23:03 UTC)