Scientists Built a Robot From 40 Pigeon Feathers and It Flies Beautifully – Gizmodo, Gizmodo.com
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Scientists seeking to understand the mechanics of bird flight have constructed PigeonBot, a robot made from (pigeon feathers (and a few other components).
While airplanes maneuver by altering their wing elements, birds can morph the shape of their entire wings to dive, bank , and coast through the air, increasing both their efficiency and agility. This new study on pigeon wings has not only provided a simpler model for how bird wings work but allowed engineers to integrate that knowledge into a nimble flying machine. The researchers hope that PigeonBot will provide an inspiration for those constructing flying machines, as well as those studying birds. *** You can simply use the cadaver of a bird, and There are many in museums, to develop a robot without harming any animal to study their flight, ”David Lentink, the studies’ corresponding author and assistant professor of mechanical engineering, told Gizmodo.
“I first started with just one question: How do individual feathers work together?” Said Laura Matloff, Stanford University graduate student. Matloff had long been interested in animals, having volunteered at wildlife hospital as a child, and was interested in incorporating knowledge from biology into engineering. She led one of the studies that measured cadavers of food-grade pigeons using motion-capture systems, taking measurements on how the feathers moved as they manipulated the bones.
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