Flapping-wing robots that mimic the flight mechanics of birds and insects are closing the control gap with conventional quadrotor drones, according to a cluster of recent peer-reviewed studies.

A bird banking in a crosswind doesn't rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment. Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building ...

Engineers are taking inspiration from birds to design a new kind of flying robot that could be more flexible, safer, and better suited to complex environments than today’s drones. Instead of relying ...

Decorative film is saving birds' lives — at least that's a lesson to take away from a $1.2 million project at Chicago's McCormick Place. In 2023, the convention center was the site of 2,000 bird ...

Unlike birds, which navigate unknown environments with remarkable speed and agility, drones typically rely on external guidance or pre-mapped routes. However, a groundbreaking development by Professor ...

In this computer-generated flight sequence, the ornithopter’s wings beat without any gears or motors—powered instead by thin piezoelectric actuators that flex the entire structure. A bird banking in a ...

Electricity-driven materials replace motors and gears to power bird-like drone wings that flap, twist and morph, opening the door to simpler, lighter flapping-wing aircraft. (Nanowerk News) A bird ...