Design Engineering – March-April 2019

March/April | 2019 http://www.design-engineering.com

35

DESIGN & MANUFACTURING

INNOVATIONS BEGIN

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JUNE 4-6, 2019 // TORONTO, ONTARIO

TORONTO CONGRESS CENTRE

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FluidPower:News

this gives the arm flexible reach and

mobility. It can be fitted with range of

Festo grippers, depending on the appli-

cation. The soft bellows also allow it to

operate in the same space as people,

eliminating the need for safety cages or

light barriers.

Lastly, Festo did unveil a new robotic

animal, the BionicFinWave, that takes its

inspiration from the way that the fins on

cuttlefish and aquatic flatworms undu-

late, rather than flap, to propel them

through the water. This principle allows

the BionicFinWave to maneuver forwards

or backwards through an acrylic tube

system.

The BionicFinWave robot’s side fins

are cast out of silicone and don’t require

struts or other supporting elements. The

two fins are attached to the left and right

of nine small lever arms, which in turn

are powered by two servo motors. Two

adjacent crankshafts transmit the force

to the levers so that the two fins can be

moved individually to generate different

shaft patterns.

The undulating fins are particularly

suitable for slow and precise locomotion.

A cardan joint is located between each

lever segment to ensure that the crank-

shafts are flexible. For this purpose, the

crankshafts including the joints and the

connecting rod are made of plastic in one

piece using the 3D printing process.

The remaining elements in the Bion-

icFinWave’s body are also 3D-printed,

which enables its complex geometries in

the first place. With their cavities, they

act as flotation units. At the same time,

the entire control and regulation tech-

nology are watertight, safely installed and

synchronized in a very tight space.

http://www.festo.com

Fluid Power Industry Growth

Trend

According the National Fluid Power

Association, industry shipments of fluid

power products for February 2019

increased 3.6 percent when compared to

February 2018 and decreased 2.1 percent

when compared to the previous month.

Industrial hydraulic shipments decreased,

while mobile hydraulic and pneumatic

shipments increased, in February 2019

when compared to February 2018.

Mobile hydraulic and industrial hydrau-

lic decreased, while pneumatic shipments

increased when compared to the previous

month. The NFPA’s data collected from

more than 80 manufacturers of fluid power

products in NFPA’s Confidential Shipment

Statistics (CSS) program. DE

https://nfpahub.com

Festo’s AI-driven BionicSoftHand features a

digitally controlled pneumatic valve terminal that

feeds flexible bellows structures in its fingers.

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