Flying Jellyfish!
Back in 2007 we reported on the swimming blimp. Now a German outfit called Festo (I don't speak German, so I'm unclear if it's a company, an artists' collective, an educational organization, or a one-name supervillain planning to conquer the world) has created a flying robotic jellyfish. Video of it is here.
A tip of the jellyfish-shaped hat to David Szondy's Ephemeral Isle.
According to their website, Festo is a company specializing in automation (for factories etc.)
That jellyfish is wonderful though! Nice that a company is willing to go out on a limb with a project that's more interesting than immediately useful. The description of it (which I could translate if you want) seems to think that the innovative thing about it is the propulsion system: they call it "peristaltic" action of the balloon. This doesn't need much power to drive it.
Posted by: Vasha | May 15, 2008 at 05:10 AM
WOW! Did you know that there was a shighting of real flying Jellyfish? I saw it at CryptidsAreReal.com
Posted by: Bianca | July 15, 2008 at 09:34 PM