Festo’s SmartBird, Fly Like a Bird
By prasetio30
This time I’ll share about how the people created amazing technology inspired by animal. I think many of us love birds and I have wrote about another amazing technology inspired with bird. To remind us again, you can read “Nano Hummingbird, a Spy Bird”. A beautiful bird made by United States Defense Department. One of the oldest dreams of human is to fly like a bird. We can move freely through the air in all dimensions and see the world from a distance with “bird’s-eye view”. Actually in 1490, Leonardo da Vinci was flapping wing models in order to come closer to achieving bird flight. The era has changed. There are many researches proved Leonardo’s theory.
And now, we can see something amazing which is use a bird as an inspiration. The engineers of Festo’s Bionic Learning Network created a flight model that is capable of taking off autonomously. This bird also has ability in rising in the air by means of its flapping wings alone. The best part of this robot is it can fly without the aid of other devices to provide lift. They called this invention is Smartbird. It is a robot that can fly with the movement like the real bird. It has excellent aerodynamic qualities and extreme agility like a normal bird. With SmartBird, Festo (the creator) has succeeded in deciphering the flight abilities of birds into the excellent technology.
Herring Gull
SmartBird brings bionic technology-bearer, inspired by the herring gull. This bird can start flying from the ground independently (fly and land autonomously), without the additional drive mechanism. The Wings are not only move up and down, but also rotating at certain angles. This is made possible by the active articulated torsional by drive unit, which in combination with complex control systems to achieve levels of efficiency. It’s never happened before in flight operations. It’s the first time in creating a technical adaptation of energy-efficient models from nature. There are several parts of this robot and they have own function, like: the wing can lift and propulsion in birds, tail section as an aid for lift and controlling movement. Directional control is achieved through the torso sections and the movement of the robot's head.
SmartBird has weight about 450 grams, boasts a wingspan about 1.96 m or 6.4 feet, torso length about 1.07 m. This robot has a lightweight carbon fibre structure and electronic controls (two electric motors and cables). Festo has demonstrated amazing technology and describe how sophisticated this robots which can fly. Aerodynamically feature is very efficient, even turning its head to perform aerobatics movements. We can find larger implications of this robot. Just imagine a flight model or robotic spy plane packed with ultra-lightweight GPS, powerful battery (lithium polymer accumulator, 2 cells, 7.4 V, 450 mA) and a high precision camera and microphone.
The surveillance data can be collected from this robot will certainly impressive and more stylized than any spies android devices out there. SmartBird uses two-way Zigbee radio communication that conveys information to a computer. So, wing position and torsion can be monitored in real time during flight. The torsion control parameters can be adjusted in real time during flight and thus optimized. SmartBird is the result of good cooperation between Dr. Wilfried Stoll as project initiator, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Markus Fischer as project manager, Rainer Mugrauer, Günter Mugrauer, Andreas Schadhauser for design and production. I hope you enjoy all pictures and the video as well.
The Festo team
The complete history of SmartBird
You can also read:
Comments
Amazing to read about this Smartbird. Festo's work to decipher bird flight is interesting to learn about. The videos are so interesting. Thanks for giving us a look at some neat maneuvers on the part of smart bird's team.
Awesome Prsetio! You are the best at finding these and telling the story.
Well done Brother... loved all the work you put into this.
Blessings
Your welcome, Sunnie Day. Good to see you again. I am glad to know that you love this information. Have a nice day. Cheers....
Prasetio
My friend, RTalloni. Thank you very much for coming and share your thought about this technology. I hope this hub useful for us. Take care!
Prasetio
My brother, Hmrjmr1. I am so happy to see you here. Thanks for your compliment and I am proud to share this information to you. God bless you!
Prasetio
Hi, Rolly A Chabot. Good to see you here. Thanks for stopping by and you enjoy this information. Take care!
Prasetio
Awesome, a man-made bird that can fly. Looks amazing. Thanks again for another wonderful hub.
Another interesting hub Prasetio. I'm sure this new technology will be very useful, they really are beautiful..Thank you..Cheers
Dear friend,anglnwu. Thank you very much for coming and share tour opinion about this topic. Technology has evolved from day by day and this bird has proved that technology is part of our life. Have a good day!
Prasetio
Thanks, Ruby for your understanding about new technology. I agree with you that technology will be very useful for us, especially for humankind. Cheers....
Prasetio
With this new technology, pras, now we, the humans, who have been bird watchers are now going to be watched by the birds. What goes around comes around. Thanks for this amazing information and your research. Voted up, my friend.
Prasetio, my brother, good hub as always. Your hub has made me want to take up hunting. Imagine that, I wouldn't even be killing a bird, kind of like shooting trap :-P Hope you're doing well! Peace!! Tom
Hi Prasetio
You have written a fascinating and very interesting hub.
I wonder what the cost was to design the Smartbird?
Voted up and away!
Hope you are doing well. :-)
Take Care
Sue
Fascinating, as usual. Up, interesting and awesome.
Good breakdown and pics on the Smartbird brother Pras. Look! Up in the sky! Its a bird, its a plane! Yes! Its Smartbird!!
How interesting and such fascinating new technology! A Smartbird! This hub is as usual very good and you are a master on finding this new things! Thanks for the great information Prasetio, I loved the videos too,
Tina
Dear friend, drbj. Thank you so much for share tour lovely comment about this topic. I hope we can learn about how the human try to learn the animal through technology. I always love your vote. Cheers....
Prasetio
As usual Prasetio, you have outdone yourself! I love wild birds, I guess I didn't realize how much we have learned from them! I set up a bunch of bird feeders outside my bedroom so my cat (inside cat) will have a live show of sorts, now I have learned to appreciate them too, amazing creatures that they are! Good Job!
My friend, justom. Thank you very much for coming and share your opinion about this bird. Actually, I want to touch this hub in person. No one to shoot this cute bird like SmartBird, right! Take care
Prasetio
Hi, Sue. Good to see you again. Unfortunately, I can't answer your question about the cost of this project. But I believe that the festo spent a lot of money to do this research. But I believe that this innovation will bring something good for the future. Your vote really appreciated here. Have a nice day!
Prasetio
Hi, POP. Your comment always nice and make my day so colorful. Thanks for coming and your attention to this information. Cheers.....
My brother, Alastar Packer. Thanks for always share wonderful comment every time you visit my hub. I really impressed with this. I hope you enjoy this information. God bless you!
Prasetio
Hi, Tina. I am so happy to see you again. Thank you very much for stopping by, share your opinion about this topic and your compliment to me. I will work hard in finding something interesting and I hope you always love all my works. Take care!
Blessing and hugs,
Dear friend, Chatkath. Thank you very much for share your beautiful comment about birds. I am glad to know that you are a bird lovers like me. It's so refreshing to hear the bird singing in the morning. I hope this hub useful for you and we can learn about another shape of birds with technology inside. Have a nice day!
Prasetio
You never run out of great ideas and such interesting information. That must be what makes you such a great teacher. What the world needs more of!
Hi, Polly. Good to see you here. Thanks for coming and give nice comment about my hub. I hope this hub useful for us. God bless you!
Prasetio
Your hubs are always amazing prasetio;well informed and so interesting and this one is just that once more !!!
Thank you for sharin and I have to award the up up and away.
Take care;
Eddy.
What an awesome invention! If I could invent something like this, I might make a flying dragon instead of a bird......but that wouldn't be very subtle, I guess. lol
Hi, Eddy. Good to see you here. Thank you very much for coming and share your attention to this hub. I am so happy to share this information to you. Take care!
Prasetio
My brother, Om Paramapoonya. Thank you very much for stopping by and share your opinion about this technology. You have a wonderful idea to make something "cute" like a flying dragon. Have a good day!
Prasetio
Hi Prasetio,
Spy technology keeps getting smarter and smaller as evidenced by this new Festos Smartbird. Amazing! Thanks for showing us this latest fascinating hub. Up votes obviously! :))
Your welcome, Peggy. Thanks for share your opinion about this technology. Appreciate it as always and your vote never disappointed me. God bless you!
Prasetio
Well done pras, you always manage to find the most amazing topics! I love this! very clever, I love new gadgets and whether they are big or small they fascinate me! voted up! cheers nell
Dear friend, Nell Rose. Thank you very much for coming and how you gadget, especially for new technology. I hope you enjoy this hub and useful for us. I love your vote. Take care!
Prasetio
Interesting smartbird indeed, a result from technology advancement. With built in GPS, camera and phone, this bird can certainly achieve many things. Voted up and tweeted.
Hi, Ingenira. Good to see you here. Thank you very much for your attention to this hub. I hope we can learn about newest technology from this bird. I love your vote and your kindness tweeted this information. God bless you!
Prasetio
Very interesting. I am amazed at what we can do with technology. Awesome read.
Thanks.
Thanks, Lady_E for coming and share your thought about this technology. I hope you enjoy read this hub. Take care!
Prasetio
Sunnie Day 3 months ago
Great hub Prasetio,
Very interesting..Thanks for sharing a great hub as always. Have a great day.
Sunnie