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Robotic Penguins
Corporate Troll writes "Robotic penguins were unveiled by German engineering firm Festo this week. Using their flippers, the mechanical penguins (video) can paddle through water just like real ones, while larger helium-filled designs can "swim" through the air. The penguins are on show at the Hannover Messe Trade Exhibition in Germany.
Each penguin carries 3D sonar which is used to monitor its surroundings and avoid collisions with walls or other penguins."
...Does is run linux?
(We all knew this was going to be asked!)
(frickin' laser sold separately).
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
I am still relatively young and without children..but is the purpose here that when we systematically destroy actual penguins' habitat I can still show my kid this robot and say "Well, they used to swim kind of like that"....
while larger helium-filled designs can "swim" through the air.
It's called a blimp.
Just callin' it like I see it.
Which distro do they run?
Festo makes the best power woodworking tools I've ever seen.
Generally it's rare for me to see a job I'm truly envious of but those were some of the coolest projects I have ever seen, and to be paid to do that..
When did Slashdot start doing images in non-extended summaries? Talk about a leap into the future.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
So when does the whale-shaped space probe come?
Fuck Beta
...a Beowulf cluster of these.
Have gnu, will travel.
while larger helium-filled designs can "swim" through the air...
...Run along now."
WTF?
Army Guy: "Hey kids, see the cute penguin?!"
Youngster: "But, mister, why is it flying around, shooting lasers out of its eyes at those Muslims?!"
Army Guy: "Penguins do that sometimes!
Hey, sweet, they have fickin' laser beams for eyes ^_^
"I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist"
I'm so disappointed! We haven't had a story about Stallman for ages now!
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
So like the way the UAV will probably replace (or mostly replace) the manned plane. Will these 'UWV'replaced manned subs?
So like the way the UAV will probably replace (or mostly replace) the manned plane. Will these 'UWV'replaced manned subs?
Probably not, since water readily absorbs radio waves.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Robotic Penguins? Skip the desktop -- 2009 will be the year of the Linux Apocalypse.
I get the sneaking suspicion that Disney is going to buy a whole fleet of these things and create a Happy Feet show at Disney World.
An entire army of dancing robot penguins with glowing eyes is the stuff nightmares are made of. Thanks, Germany!
-
3...2...1...
(Or "Robot Penguin Overlord" Jokes.)
-David
In the video, when the pengiun is facing off with the diver, did I see it mouth "Sarah Connor?"?
I wish I could think of a witty Sig. Sigh!
I think it is safe to say that these will never ever take over the Arctic.
Too Complicated.
delphinid??? you mean Spheniscid??
Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice - Grey's Law
I hope these penguins don't start hassling me about Linux.
They're penguins. It is in their nature to hassle you about Linux.
Heck, they're computerized penguins! There is no escape! >:D
Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
A lot of lives would be saved...
Forget about throwing chairs. With his penguin Zeppelins he'll be able to drop desks and filing cabinets on his foes.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
These are "penguin shaped".
That key innovation went right over your head, didn't it?
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
The head (almost an arm) movement of the artificial penguin is extraordinary - a very elegant design. It must be cheaper, lighter and more robust than a "normal/classic" jointed arm.
A picture is worth exactly 1024 words.
Paddling is drag-based propulsion (i.e. the animal uses the drag from moving a paddle in the opposite direction to produce thrust in the direction they are moving). Paddling is not very efficient because it requires a recovery phase to reset the paddle. This is how most quadrupeds, such as muskrats, polar bears, even humans, swim.
Penguins use lift-based propulsion from pectoral oscillation, or literally flapping their wings, just like the birds that they are. They generate thrust from the forward component of the lift produced by their wings depending on the angle of attack. This is much more efficient, as there is no recovery phase and so thrust can be produced almost constantly. This is how penguins (both real and the robots) and sea lions swim. Seals, whales, and dolphins use the same type of propulsion, but use their flukes or rear flippers instead of their pectoral flippers.
Just to be pedantic, but for some reason, the idea of penguins paddling bothers me. :-/
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
Anyone else noticed the developers were using Mac OS on what looks like a PC? Come on Apple sue them! What are you waiting for?
Welcome our Robotic Penguin Overlords
Did the helium ones remind anyone else of the gunships from HalfLife 2?
Yes, Only for penguins running 'doze, of course. lol
Cthulhu Saves -- in case He's hungry later.
Video from The BBC
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I get the sneaking suspicion that Disney is going to buy a whole fleet of these things and create a Happy Feet show at Disney World.
Not all G- or PG-rated animated films with talking animals are produced or published by The Walt Disney Company. March of the Penguins was distributed by Warner. Happy Feet was also Warner. Surf's Up was Columbia. What was Disney's penguin movie called?
All your penguins are belong to us!
Is Germany really so boring that the only things that these guys can do to entertain themselves is by building bionic octopii, robotic jellyfish and flying robotic penguins?
I can see the bionic octopii and flying robotic penguins but robotic jellyfish?? Is there, like, a need for those?
Did the German ISPs block all the scat-porn websites or something?
Though with inflation being what it is, and the American dollar increasingly valueless relative to more stable economies...$6 Million dollars doesn't buy what it used to.
In any case, I always knew penguins would rule the Earth.
Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
I usually ignore trolls, but this one does need a response.
No Minix code in Linux Ever -- More Evidence
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20090419181306570
Penguinator... So when is Judgement Day?
alive need is some more active sonar sources to really screw their world up. Can we make several 100K of these and let them loose in the oceans of the world, dolphins and whales have it too easy these days, this should start driving them on shore enmasse....
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?