The animal world has been a source of inspiration for many robotic designs as of late, as who better to ask about life-like movements than mother Nature herself? Up until now, though, these designs had been mostly focused on small critters, like cockroaches, and simulating properties such as adaptability and speed. But what happens when we start looking at bigger and stronger animals? Like, say, an elephant? Well, Festo’s Bionic Handling Assistant is what happens.

This innovation might seem like just another robotic arm at first glance, but the video demonstrates quite vividly how this design is such a big improvement over previous versions. Modeled after the elephant’s mighty trunk, this arm possesses great dexterity, flexibility and strength; operating with smooth, yet firm motions, and can pick up and move any kind of object from one place to another. It’s FinGripper fingers give it “an unparalleled mass/payload ratio”, and it has no problem twisting, assembling and disassembling things, such as the experimental toy in the video.

Festo’s biomechatronics technology has the potential to be used in various different fields, such as the automotive or agricultural industries, hospitals, laboratories, or even private homes. Unlike previous robotic arms, it is quite safe for humans to work alongside, because it can sense our presence and stop its movements if we fall into a dangerous position. For this purpose, it uses SMAT safety position sensors, which give the robot its flexible reactions, and allows so much strength to be safely packed into a lightweight design.

Despite it’s great promise, the Bionic Handling Assistant is still far from being ready for commercial sale. As with any interesting innovation, it will probably need to shimmer on the sidelines for a bit before society is ready for it. Until then, one wonders what other large-mammal qualities they might consider emulating?

The below video shows Festo’s new robot arm in action.


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