Here’s a very birdlike ornithopter.
According to Alex Knapp of the Forbes Blog:
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. Festo has thus succeeded for the first time in creating an energy-efficient technical adaptation of this model from nature.
These hovering platforms act as ping-pong paddles to juggle balls in mid-air.
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Previously on GJ:
Human powered ornithopter
Insect Vehicles
Utopiales Poster, Part 1
7 comments:
I really like the bird although the follow-up animated short does not have the vertical stabilizer pictured on the tail. Fascinating to see the inner workings after watching the video!
James,
Thanks...Amazing videos.
Sorry, Sir, completely unrelated, but I saw this new dinosaur discovery, and I thought you'd like to see it.
http://www.history.com/topics/t-rex-cousin-discovered-in-china?cmpid=twitter-history-040411-4
Hey James,
Those are great! So where can I get one? LOL! I bet those would cost a fortune to own.
The second video reminds me of the movie, Batteries Not Included.
Reminds me a lot of the Big Dog robot here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJJQ0zNNOM
The army is gonna use these for spying, the enemies are gonna know about it and they're gonna be shooting down every bird that they see... :(
Wow. Reminds me of the Mega Man game series.
But the bird also reminds me of a bird toy I use to have that flew under the power of a rubber band.
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