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

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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