Human-like robotic arm, with familiar muscles and bones

Boing Boing linked to this amazing robotic arm from power tool & pneumatic "muscle" manufacturer Festo.

"Airic’s_arm is inspired by nature. Based on a combination of mechatronics and the biological model of a human being, it opens up new possibilities for future automated movement processes.

The Airic’s_arm is a robotic arm fitted with artificial bones and muscles. The bone structure, consisting of the human bones such as ulna and radius, metacarpal bone and finger bone, shoulder joint and shoulder blade – joints that do not occur as such in the technical world – is moved via 30 muscles."

Unfortunately, the video of the arm isn't embeddable, but it's pretty amazing to watch. [Video]