Robotic Bird- SEAGULL

Robotic Bird that flies like a real bird!!

Innovation at its best."It is a dream of mankind to fly like a bird," designer Markus Fischer said who led the team at Festo that developed the first ultralight artificial bird capable of flying like a real bird.

 SmartBird is inspired by the herring gull. The wings not only beat up and down but twist like those of a real bird -- and seeing it fly leaves no doubt: it's a perfect technical imitation of the natural model, just bigger. (Even birds think so.) Its wingspan is almost two meters, while its carbon-fiber structure weighs only 450 grams.

Working:  It contains a microcontroller, four servo drives, and a lithium polymer battery. Its wings move in a split-stage helical transmission, and their positions are monitored with sensors that relay data to ground operators via a radio link.

The audience at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre applauded when the gull was hand-launched, tentatively flapping its wings and then beating the air to circle above the auditorium.

"It is a dream of mankind to fly like a bird," designer Markus Fischer said in his presentation, during which he hand-cranked a SmartBird to show how it flaps its wings. He added the company built it to learn about air flow phenomena and lightweight, energy-efficient models.

Markus Fischer

Video Featuring Robotic flying bird...........