Festo Launches Robotic Bio-inspired Bird

Festo is famous for its biometric robots, and the SmartBird is its latest robot, which is a flying model resembling birds such as the herring gull.

The SmartBird could mimic the bird and is also lightweight and compact. It uses four servos and one electric motor. Two interconnected rods are present, which show the wing flapping movements. One pair of servos is located one on each wingtip, which helps in twisting the wing. The second pair of servos control the 2 doF tail and head.

The flight of the birds combines the best of the flight patterns of both airplanes and helicopters. The wings follow a systematic reciprocating pattern, which would create a relative air velocity, which was needed for generating lift. This would help them to make use of their wing for lifting and propulsion while taking-off or hovering. The birds could hover without utilizing any energy when the air velocity is high. Similar to the birds the SmartBird could take-off and land by itself. The movement of the tail and the active twisting of the wing provide the in-flight control. Its ultra light and excellent aerodynamic qualities make it a powerful flight model. The minimal usage of materials gives rise to efficiency in energy and resource consumption.