If you've watched the AirJelly video in today's YouChoose (below), you may want to know more. (Well, I did.) Festo has information in German on its Web site, and there's a brochure in English (PDF). This says:
AirJelly consists of a helium-filled ballonett with a diameter of 1.35 meters. This yields a filling volume of 1.3 cubic meters of helium. Since one cubic meter of helium provides buoyancy to lift approximately one kilogram, the total weight of AirJelly, comprising its ballonett and all ancillary components, must amount to no more than 1.3 kilograms.
AirJelly houses two lithium-ion polymer accumulator batteries rated at 8 V and 400 mA, which can be completely charged in half an hour and are AirJelly's sole source of power. A connected central electric drive unit transmits the force to a bevel gear wheel and then to eight spur gears in sequence. These gears power eight shafts, each of which activates a crank; these in turn move the jellyfish's eight tentacles. Each tentacle is designed as a structure with Fin Ray Effect® - a construction derived from the functional anatomy of a fish's fin.
There's more coverage and links at the Airshipworld blog.
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