Bionic Learning Network

Participants in the Bionic Learning Network – interdisciplinary teamwork

Since the beginning of the 1990s, we have been working intensively on the subject of bionics – the transfer of natural mechanisms and principles of action to technology. With the founding of the Bionic Learning Network in 2006, a lively and open exchange has been established in cooperation with renowned universities, institutes and development companies.

Our core team consists of engineers, designers, computer scientists, biologists, robot specialists and students. They work closely with experts from other divisions and external partners from all over the world. This open, interdisciplinary teamwork offers new perspectives and inspiration for industrial applications and possible standard products for the future.

• Inside Festo: Core Team Bionic Projects, Research and Development, Product Management, Testing, Product Development, Product Design, Trade Show Stand Construction, Corporate Design and more
• Universities and institutes: TU Berlin, Delft University of Technology, Frankfurt University, Ilmenau University of Technology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology Marburg, Technical University of Munich, University of Oslo and Akershus, Department of Product Design, University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten, ZeMA Saarbrücken, University of Stuttgart, CIN University Tübingen, University of Ulm, Fraunhofer IPA and more
• External companies: aeroix GmbH, Ebert Zobel Industrial Design GbR, Effekt-Technik GmbH, Evologics GmbH, JNTec GbR, Nnaisense SA, Sachs Engineering and more

^{The BionicHydrogenBattery team: Engineers, biologists, designers and programmers from Festo}

The goals – more than just developing new technologies

Motivate, inspire, enthuse and kick-start innovation – as a technology leader and a learning company, we are pursuing a set of clear objectives with the Bionic Learning Network:

• Establish networks and motivate people from different sectors to develop their ideas with us
• Keep track of current trends in research and development and test new technologies and manufacturing methods
• Increase creativity in solution processes and drive preliminary product development through prototyping
• Discuss possible solutions with our customers and partners and obtain customer feedback about issues related to innovation
• Show our solution competence in an appealing way in order to inspire young people for technology and to find new talents
  

^{The BionicANTs: Technology test bed, development platform and eye-catcher all in one}

Development partner Festo – driving force for customer innovations

The future concepts of the Bionic Learning Network function act as development platforms which combine a whole host of technologies and components – from manufacturing concepts and series products in use right through to software and control technology.

Continuous optimization of the individual technologies means that we acquire in-depth knowledge and innovative approaches to developing and improving new products and applications together with you. The know-how gained from this makes us the number one partner for our OEM customers in a wide range of industries and requirements.

With the right components and solutions, services and expertise, we support your product development right from the start and accompany you from market analysis to function simulation, prototypes and efficient and productive series production.

^{The Bionic Handling Assistant: Future concept for simultaneous development of various cross-sectional technologies}