Festo is a German robotics company that has created an army of robots that are modeled after animals and insects. They are so similar to the animal kingdom that they are kind of creepy. While the fine folks over at Boston Dynamics are making robot dogs that can walk and open doors, Festo has now created spider robots that can somersault and flying fox robots that can fly autonomously. Let’s just surrender to our robot overlords right now before it gets too late.
Festo created a robotic spider that was inspired by the flic-flac spider (cebrennus rechenbergi). The flic-flac spider navigates the Sahara Desert by walking on eight legs as well as jumping and somersaulting down sand dunes.
Festo calls their robotic spider the BionicWheelBot and it is ready to roll into your nightmares. The BionicWheelBot is equipped with 15 motors and is remotely-controlled by a tablet. Like the spider, the BionicWheelBot has eight legs, six are spring-loaded and two are folded underneath the body.
These robots are a little reminiscent of the Droideka rolling robots from Star Wars.
Then there is the BionicFlyingFox robot which is modeled after a fruit bat. The flying fox robot has a 3D-printed carbon fiber skeleton and a foam body so it only weighs 20.5 ounces. The flying fox is controlled from a remote control, but once in the air, the autopilot system takes over. The autonomous flight, the robot utilizes two ground-based infrared cameras and a central master computer to help guide it.
Festo has an army of animal and insect robots ready to overthrow humans. Previous robots are modeled after dragonflies, kangaroos, butterflies, and barracudas, so they can attack humans on land, air, and sea.
[CNET]