Festo’s ‘eMotion Butterflies’ make their Canadian debut

Festo is widely known for innovative R&D that takes inspiration from nature to find simple, efficient techniques for automating tasks. Its “eMotion Butterflies” are the latest addition to the company’s unique, nature-imitating bionics designed to shape the factories of the future. The butterflies made their Canadian debut at the recent Advance Design & Manufacturing (ADM) Expo in Montréal.

Learning from butterflies

Festo’s “eMotion Butterflies” can fly in a way that closely mimics actual butterflies in nature, thanks to advanced miniaturization and materials. They can set their own flight-paths, even in changing environments. This state-of-the-art technology reflects the potential of Industry 4.0 technologies and automation that will shape the factories of tomorrow. For example, these and other leading-edge Festo Industry 4.0 technologies will be highly useful in creating smart processes on production lines, making them self-adjusting, self-diagnosing and self-configuring to improve production efficiency, reliability and product quality, making companies significantly more competitive.

“This is the first time we’ve seen bionic technologies of this kind in Quebec,” says Patrice Charlebois, regional manager, eastern Canada, at Festo Canada. “ADM (provided) a perfect opportunity to show domestic manufacturers and equipment suppliers how we can be valuable partners in helping them meet their needs and achieve their larger objectives.“

The Bionic Learning Network

Through its Bionic Learning Network, Festo takes inspiration from nature to find ways of automating tasks like manipulation, movement and positioning to manufacture bionic parts aimed at meeting industry needs. Butterflies are just the latest in a string of innovations that the company has developed. BionicANTs are another recent project inspired by nature. This time, the co-operative behaviour of ants was transferred to the world of technology using complex control algorithms. The artificial ants work together under clear rules, communicate with each other and co-ordinate their actions and movements among each other. This demonstrates how autonomous individual components can solve a complex task together, working as an overall networked system.

To learn more about the latest innovations from Festo and how they will help make production plants more efficient, visit the company’s website.

• Tweet