Artificial Feathers Let This Robotic Bird Fly With Incredible Agility [1/2] - Artificial Feathers Let This Robotic Bird Fly.jpg (1/1)

https://gizmodo.com/artificial-feath...ncr-1844254186

Over the years, Festo, a German automation company with a penchant for robots,
has designed countless Mother Nature-inspired automatons that swim, hop, and fly
like their real-world counterparts. That includes robotic birds, which have now
been upgraded with fake feathers that allow the robots to soar through the air
with the same maneuverability and agility as the real thing.

Nine years ago, Festo revealed a robotic seagull with wings that could bend and
flap like the wings on the real-life terrors of the beach. The robotic bird was
able to stay aloft by simply flapping its wings without the need for an
additional propeller or other thrust mechanism to create forward momentum. It
could also steer by adjusting the angle of its tail, and while it was an
engineering marvel, its in-air maneuverability was limited.

The latest version of Festo’s robotic bird, BionicSwift, is a completely
different story. For starters, it’s much smaller, weighing in at just 42 grams
while still carrying a battery that’s good for about seven minutes of flight
time. One electric motor powers the flapping motion of the robot’s wings, while
two others make adjustments to the bird’s artificial foam feathers to perform
realistic in-flight maneuvers.

As with a real bird, when the wings are moving downwards, the overlapping
feathers form a single surface to maximize the amount of power being generated
to create lift. When the wings are moving up, the feathers fan out to increase
air flow which reduced the amount of energy needed for that motion, improving
battery life. In the video Festo shared on YouTube, the robot bird is also seen
performing a diving maneuver where it gracefully falls out of the sky to pick up
speed before spreading its wings and climbing once again. It’s eerily lifelike.

Festo has even managed to recreate a bird’s uncanny ability to fly half way
around the world while migrating without losing their way by using built-in GPS
so the robot knows where it is at all times. But with just seven minutes of
flight time, the company doesn’t have to worry about these escaping to South
America when the weather gets cold.



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