The company Festo has made the world's first electromechanical bird that flies like it's real counterpart called the "Smartbird." Festo took inspiration from the Herring Gull, with the guidance of With French physiologist Etienne-Jules Marey (1830 – 1904), analysis of the flight of birds, that were made to fly in a circular path, and deciphered avian flight. Their research gave the Smartbird the ability to take off, fly, turn, and land autonomously without additional equipment or assistance. Flight direction is controlled via the tail and the twisting of the wings.
In the animated video below, vie of the inside of the bird is a mechanical drive system that rivals clockwork. The drive system has 2 servo motors that control the wing's twisting motion. And 2 servos in the head and tail used. The main driving motor, that imparts the up and down motion of the wings, is a compact 135 brushless motor.
At the core of the Smartbird is a LM3S811 MCULM3S811 MCU at 50Mhz. A LIS302DLHLIS302DLH accelerometer and 3 TLE4906 Hall sensors on the motors send critical information back to the MCU, and to an operator via a Zigbee radio. The entire system draws 23-25W. Even with a 7.4V 450mA lithium battery onboard and a 2m wingspan, the Smartbird only weighs in at 485g.
Festo has made a few dreams come true, and pushed bionic technology a little forward. Good work!
Eavesdropper
