May 14, 2013

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! Watch Robo Raven Fool a Hawk

Extremely lightweight materials allow developers to program a robot to do almost anything a real bird can do, from dives to back flips.

bigthinkeditor

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Real birds are capable of impressive acrobatic flying maneuvers because they can precisely control their wing motions.

It is very difficult to replicate that with a robot because bird-like maneuvers require an extremely lightweight platform. The robot raven in this video, however, is built out of intricate 3D-printed parts that are made of extremely lightweight materials. This allows its developers at the Maryland Robotics Center to program its wings to do almost anything a real bird can do, from dives to back flips.

Their creation is already fooling real birds.

(h/t Singularity Hub)

Watch here:

Check out Dr. S.K. Gupta’s blog for the full story:

http://unorthodoxideas.blogspot.com/2…

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