#AWE2014

Happy Sci-Fi Friday where we highlight some incredible tech that feels as though it is coming straight out of a science fiction flick. This week we caught a story about giant butterfly drones being created by robotics firm, Festo. Most drones look like futuristic helicopters so it’s interesting to see a company play with the form factor to create something that we would normally see in nature.

The eMotion Butterflies are ultra-light flying devices which mimic the insect’s coordinated flying patterns. The butterflies leverage an intelligent mechanical system and are made out of ultra-light materials and the smallest possible power units to give them a more true-to-nature flying behaviour. As butterflies usually fly in a group, Festo used cameras and infrared technology to create a guidance and monitoring system that allowed each butterfly to fly with precision within a collective without collision.

From far away the butterflies look quite elegant and beautiful, but up close the butterfly drones are gargantuous compared to their biological counterparts. Seeing them in flight reminded us of the 1962 film Mothra which saw a monstrous Moth attack the world, causing hurricanes and smashing into bridges and buildings and terrifying civilians like only a movie-monster can. Of course the current Festo butterflies look far less menacing than Mothra and don’t have the same destructive powers. But we are sure that baby Mothra started off cute at some point as well.

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Image Source: Turner Classic Films


Augmented World Expo (AWE) is the world’s largest conference for professionals focused on making the world more interactive – featuring technologies such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Wearable Computing, Smart Glasses, Gesture and Sensors devices, and The Internet of Things. Now in our sixth year, AWE 2015 is our biggest event yet with over 3,000 tech professionals, 200 demos, 100+ AWE-inspiring talks and over 150 participating companies. Tickets are on sale now.

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