Like their biological role model, the AquaPenguins have an energy-efficient streamlined shape. With the help of their wing drives, the artificial penguins can manoeuvre through water in the tightest of spaces, turn on the spot and – unlike their natural counterpart – even swim backwards. They can orient themselves independently and develop different, variable behaviour patterns in a group.
The hull, which can move in any direction, is a brand new innovation in the field of robotics. Its design consists of a flexible Fin Ray® structure inspired by the tail fin of a fish. When pressure is applied to it from the side, it does not bend away but instead curves around the pressure point. For the AquaPenguins, the bionic Fin Ray® structure has now been extended to three-dimensional space for the first time. The hull design of the penguins could be used in automation as a flexible parallel kinematic system arrangement and thus open up new application fields in handling technology.