Beaucoup de robots sont capables de voler, mais aucun ne vole vraiment comme un oiseau. Tout du moins jusqu'à ce que Markus Fisher et son équipe chez Festo ne construisent le SmartBird, un grand robot léger conçu comme une mouette, qui vole en battant des ailes. Une démo  planante, toute fraîche de TEDGlobal 2011.

Un robot qui vole comme un oiseau.

Humans have long dreamed of flying like birds, but imitating their effortless, agile flight remained a challenge. A lightweight robot modeled on the herring gull, with a two-meter wingspan and just 450 grams in weight, finally achieved this by flapping and twisting its wings for lift and propulsion. This breakthrough emerged from careful study of avian motion and precise engineering of carbon fiber structures. The result is a machine that not only soars overhead but does so with remarkable energy efficiency.

Building a Robot That Flies With the Grace of a Bird

animals

biomimicry