DAVID POGUE: So, when an engineer, like you, comes to the zoo, do you see it differently from regular visitors?

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK (Festo): I think so, because we want to get inspired by the nature, and here in the zoo, they're so concentrated, the huge variety of animals, all optimized for that application. And we are thinking in application, so why should…? This is a paradise for an engineer.

 

DAVID POGUE: Heinrich works for an automation company, trying to improve one of the most important inventions of the 20th century, the robotic arm. It's been revolutionizing factories since the first one was introduced, in 1961, at General Motors.

 

But robotic arms have some problems. Just like the one on humans, the traditional robot arm consists of rigid parts, joined together, often limiting its programmable motion. They're also dangerous. Get hit by one of these, and it's lights out, so robots often end up behind protective fences, unable to work closely with humans.

 

The German automation company Heinrich works for, Festo, decided to reinvent the robotic arm, making it more flexible and less dangerous. Heinrich leads me to the source of the inspiration. And it turns out, maybe, the best arm is a nose.

 

So why would you look at an elephant's trunk and think this would help you with automation?

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK: As you can see, it's so flexible and transmits a lot of force and makes it much more easier to handle things. And this is our business, handling things, pick and place, to automate factory or process, and it makes sense to look into nature and to get inspired by nature, and the elephant is an excellent ambassador for that.

 

DAVID POGUE: Thanks to Zella, a 47-year-old Asian elephant, I get a little first-hand experience with what an elephant packs in its trunk.

 

Little elephant snot for you.

 

An elephant trunk is an impressive multi-tool, able to slurp up water…

 

ZOOKEEPER: Now she collects the water.

 

DAVID POGUE: …and squirt it.

 

Breakfast is on.

 

It picks up food like a vacuum cleaner, manipulates objects, and it's strong. Zella can use her trunk to lift over 400 pounds.

 

No, no, that's my wrist.

 

She could crush me like a bug, couldn't she?

 

ZOOKEEPER: Yes, yes, sir.

 

DAVID POGUE: Here, have some more peanuts.

 

But the trunk's most impressive attribute is its amazing flexibility. It comes from having no bones, and about 40,000 muscles, arranged lengthwise and in rings. With no bones and no joints, it's about as far away from a traditional robotic arm as you can get.

 

Beep! Beep!

 

I head to Festo's headquarters, in nearby Esslingen, to see their version of the elephant trunk. They call it a "bionic handling assistant."

 

Now, this looks like a bionic handling assistant.

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK: Yeah. You're absolutely right. This is our trunk.

 

DAVID POGUE: Festo's version of the trunk is made of plastic, with a series of air chambers inside. Filling different parts with compressed air causes it to bend.

 

So if I wanted to bend it that way?

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK: We need a tube with compressed air for this expansion and then you get this bending to the other end.

 

DAVID POGUE: So this blows up like a balloon?

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK: Yes, for sure.

 

DAVID POGUE: They're testing the assistant with this simple motion, for use in a packaging operation.

 

Look at that, it tucks it in nicely. Well done, Dumbo.

 

But it is inherently more flexible than a conventional arm, and, just as important, far safer.

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK: We don't have electricity, we don't have steel and iron and all this masses, which are…could damage a person. It's a weight of five pounds. Some valves, a little control system…

 

DAVID POGUE: So there's really nothing here but plastic tubes and air.

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK: Yeah.

 

DAVID POGUE: Does it do tricks?

 

In this application, the tip of the trunk works by suction, but Festo has experimented with what it calls a "fin gripper," inspired by fish fins.

 

If you push on the middle of a tail fin, it doesn't curl away from you as you might expect, it curls toward you, giving a fish much more efficient strokes. But Festo has built that principle into a gripper that curls around the object it needs to pick up, adapting to the shape.

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK: When we have to change the shape of the products we are handling, so, we need something flexible, more flexible. For this, it is very helpful to use a fish tail as a gripper.

 

DAVID POGUE: So, it looks to me like you're about to demonstrate how this might work.

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK: Yes. We have two different gripping devices. One with a fish tail, and this is a traditional one the robots are using.

 

DAVID POGUE: Can I see these things close?

 

HEINRICH FRONTZEK: Sure. Same pressure, everything is equal.

 

Now, we will see what happens. This is the old robot, and this is the bio-engineered method.

 

DAVID POGUE: Okay. Let the competition begin.

 

Look at that! Traditional robot hand, shattered to smithereens, and the fish tail gripper really did its job. So you have robot, zero; fish tail, one. You have stolen from nature and did a great job.