September 2020

KNOWLEDGE BASE 34 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS September 2020 www.hpmag.co.uk Industrial change has accelerated, demanding a new level of interaction between people, machines and data. Within its Bionic Learning Network, Festo has been studying and developing safe automation systems to relieve people of monotonous or hazardous tasks. The BionicMobileAssistant is a prototype robot system that deploys artificial intelligence to move independently, identifying and gripping objects and adaptively working with humans. Modular design The entire system has been developed in collaboration with ETH Zurich. It has a modular design consisting of three subsystems: a mobile robot, an electric robotic arm and a pneumatic gripper – the BionicSoftHand 2.0 – an earlier version of which was first presented by Festo in 2019. It uses a combination of compact valve technology, sensors, electronics and mechanical components Festo gives the future of safe automation a hand The robotic arm balances on a ball, enabling it to move freely in all directions.

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