Robo-Penguins that Swim and Fly

Festo, a German engineering company which brought us the stunning AirJelly, has now unveiled their latest project - life-like robo-penginus. Even better, there 's a swimming and a flying version. The penguins, which were designed to showcase a new mechanical linkage/control design for robotic arms, are amazingly life-like. Aside from the creepy glowing eyes, the underwater variety could well be mistaken for the real thing. The swimming penguins can move their heads and tails, just like real penguins, and navigate using a 3D sonar developed by EvoLogics. The flying variety use ultrasonic receivers to map out their flying space, with the help of stragegically placed ultrasonic transmitter. Both penguins use fiberglass rods through the length length of their body to provide structure, and when the rods are pushed/pulled, to move their heads and tails.

You can see another video of the Penguins after the jump.