Festo unveiled a really interesting piece of technology at this year's Hannover Fair. Airic's Arm uses fluidic-muscle technology that replaces gears and servos with elastic tubes filled with air or liquid. The tubes are meant to mimic the muscle structure of a human, but are better, stronger, and faster than the real thing. The fluidic arm can exert 6,000 Newtons of push force (about 1,350 pounds), putting the rocket-powered arm to shame.

The company wants to enhance the arm even further with sensors for tactile feedback as well as developing versions for the back, hip, and neck, too. That's all well and good for now, but what happens when one day this thing walks into a bar looking for Sarah Conner? — Stephen Schleicher

Festo, via Engadget

Take the jump for video of the arm in action.