David Conrad, for I Programmer:

Why does Festo spend so much time creating impressive robots?

Simple — all of the techniques can be used in factory automation and that’s what Festo specializes in. Wouldn’t you want the company that can build ants and beautiful butterfly robots to automate your factory?

It’s always made sense to me that early robots should emulate insects, which are essentially nature’s own robots. But if you watch the butterflies demonstration in particular, you may be impressed by the grace with which they perform.

The other thing I like is how they “home” to recharge themselves. It’s not just functional, the mechanism is expressed in their very form.

Definitely check out Festo’s other projects inspired by nature.