At the focus of our current research work are lightweight bionic robots, which due to their natural movement patterns and the pneumatics employed are almost predestined for collaborative working spaces and in future will be able to represent a cost-effective alternative to conventional robot concepts. The strengths of pneumatic drives have always lain in their simple handling and robustness, the low costs of acquisition and their high power density – in other words comparatively large forces in a small space and with a low weight. Holding processes get by without further compressed air consumption and are therefore extremely energy efficient. However, the main drawback is the fact that the controllability is very extensive due to the strong nonlinear behaviour of the dynamics. As model based control concepts are used, the main nonlinearities of the system will be presented. On the example of a single pneumatic axis (Figure 1), the Bionic Handling Assistant (Figure 2) and the BionicCobot (Figure 3) the necessary nonlinear controller structure is explained.