Festo's SmartBird

[Daryn]

So I was reading this post over on Engadget about Festo's robot bird. It's modeled after a herring gull, and it flies quite naturally.

There's also two videos that go with the post, but I'll embed one of them here.



I think I may be in love....

[Rys]

Wow! That is quite an amazing machine. How does it (in efficiency, range, top speed, payload, etc.) compare to fixed wing or rotorcraft drones of the same size?

[Daryn]

Not sure how it will compare. If you want more info though you could check out the page at:

http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/11369.htm

[Rys]

Thanks.
It looks like it probably has a pretty low payload capacity, but even if the prototype is the only one built it's apparently already provided more than enough useful data to justify its design and construction.

[themnax]

i'd be interested in seeing it landing and taking off. how much space it would need. camera behind they eyes is the only payload it would really need, and it looks like, in one part of the demo the did something pretty close to that, unless that was faked somehow. pretty good mobile security camera platform i would think. artform/artistic at the same time as well.

[Daryn]

i'd be interested in seeing it landing and taking off. how much space it would need. camera behind they eyes is the only payload it would really need, and it looks like, in one part of the demo the did something pretty close to that, unless that was faked somehow. pretty good mobile security camera platform i would think. artform/artistic at the same time as well.

This particular one really interests me because it does a much better job of looking like a bird than most of these drones do. I can imagine future versions with feathers even.

[Rick Canaan]

Oh wow. I can instantly see the benefits of this!

Airports are often plagued with problems of flocks of birds clogging up their runways - fouling jet engines and damaging jetliner windscreens. Paint one of these suckers up like a falcon and have it do circuits around those airports, and those birds will find different places to be, quickly!

Man, these guys develop this technology, and the money they can make off of the airports for bird-control alone, would only be the beginning!

[Daryn]

If they did that, and made it look a lot like a falcon, then they'd probably make money off of me as well. I would love to have my own robot falcon!