Bionics

The inspiring power of bionics. What can we learn from penguins, jellyfish, insects, geckos, seagulls or even Homo sapiens? Over the course of evolution, nature has developed sophisticated, simple and efficient solutions to meet the everyday needs of each and every species. It is well worth taking a closer look in order to get to the bottom of the mysteries of biology: with an inquisitive, open mind, we can derive valuable impulses for the technology of today and tomorrow. Festo already discovered the fascination of bionics 20 years ago; since this time, the specialists have been entering into a new dimension of automation and robotics. The natural characteristics of living beings and their biological mechanisms yield technical applications. This calls for an intuitive and intelligent interface between humasn and machines on the basis of partnership, safety and cooperation. As an open learning enterprise, Festo itself acts like a living organism in a state of constant exchange with its environment: it is self-organising, self-controlling and self-renewing. Biology is both a mentor and a source of inspiration. Muscle fibres are transformed into actuators, nerve fibres into sensors. And neural networks serve as a model for highly flexible production facilities in automation - an industrial evolution.