Tek-Bull

Flying Robotic Bird, It flaps it’s wings like a real bird.

These engineers over at Festo’s Have created a flying robot designed to flap it’s wings like a real bird. they call it the very ingenious name of “The Smart Bird” creative uh?
Festo has had a fascination with robotics since the start, and they have several pieces of technology that constantly make the news. A simple search for Festo on Youtube will pop up video after video of Festo’s advancements in robotics.

But lets get back to the bird, This bionic technology-bearer, which is inspired by the herring gull, can start, fly and land autonomously – with no additional drive mechanism. Its wings not only beat up and down, but also twist at specific angles. This is made possible by an active articulated torsional drive unit, which in combination with a complex control system attains an unprecedented level of efficiency in flight operation.   Now in order for this bird to fly, it has to be light weight and capable to glide, well at about 1 pound, “the Smart Bird” has this covered. Check the video below to see it in action.

Now you may be thinking it’s just a flying bird, whats up with the big deal? well like any other piece of technology, it has to start small, imagine airplanes developed using this type of technology, or even military implications like small un-maned air vehicles (UAVs)  the list could go on and on.Festo creates robots that move in a fluid motion, and once they get it figured out the advancements in aerodynamics would be tremendous.

Read more about it at Festo’s Website