By imitating the way that fish fins are constructed, it has been possible to develop novel grippers and actuators, as well as working models of a wing-propelled, smart-structured airship and a novel underwater inspection vessel.

In fish, the double ribs that support fins are of very subtle construction, but in industrial developments, these can be constructed either from two ribs connected by rigid links or by extruding profiles out of semi-rigid elastomer.

The basic idea has been given the name Fin Ray Effect  and comes from Leif Kniese of EvoLogics, a Berlin-based company specialising in advanced technologies inspired by nature. The development into real world products that are suitable for factory automation has been led by Festo, the company behind Aqua Ray and experts in pneumatics and related technologies

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