The 8 crazy animal robots you have to see to believe

Whether they use pneumatics, hydraulics, or some other type of motion control, robots are increasingly being modeled after the greatest designer of all—Mother Nature. Here’s a look at some of the most amazing designs you’ll see engineers working on today. The focus of this project, from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, is the design and development of intelligent structures for application in mobile robot systems, especially in walking machines. The ape project goal is to increase the efficiency of a complex walking robot by using intelligent structures. Rigid elements are extended to single subsystems—which provide an advantage to the overall system by delivering enhanced mobility and sensor information. You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> Paul J. Heney, the Editorial Director for Design World, has a BS in Engineering Science & Mechanics and a minor in Technical Communications from Georgia Tech. Heney has more than 14 years of experience in the fluid power industry, covering pneumatics, sensors, air preparation, pneumatic systems, valves and the whole spectrum of fluid power technology. Paul Heney delivers weekly pneumatic industry news, pneumatic resources, new pneumatic product innovations and more.