A new robotic flying drone, styled like a seagull, has arrived on the scene. It doesn't squawk, poop or steal french fries from your hand, but it's an example of incredible bio-mimicking design that could be the future of airborne robots.
We've met a Festo robot before--a robotic manipulator/gripper arm with a design that's heavily inspired by elephant trunk muscles--and so we know about the company's penchant for using bio-inspired thinking in its robot engineering. Festo actually has a whole suite of innovations under its Bionic Learning Network umbrella, but the Smart Bird is the most eye-popping among them.
In fact the robot is so astonishingly convincing in flight it really could pass for a genuine seagull from a distance--a feat of biomimicry that Festo is clearly proud of. The company notes: "Festo has succeeded in deciphering the flight of birds."
To read the full, original article click on this link: It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's ... a New Seagull-Like Robot Spy Drone! | Fast Company
Author: Kit Eaton
