‘PigeonBot’ is the first robot that can bend its wings like a real bird
Pigeons may be considered rats of the sky, but some scientists have found greater value in these urban birds: the blueprint for a new generation of flying machines. Birds can modify the shape of their wings by fanning out their feathers or shuffling them closer together. Those adjustments allow birds to cut through the sky more nimbly than rigid drones. Now, using new insights into exactly how pigeons’ joints control the spread of their wing feathers, researchers have built a robotic pigeon, dubbed PigeonBot, whose feathered wings change shape like the real deal. This research paves the way for creating more agile aircraft, says Dario Floreano, a roboticist at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland not involved in the work. With birdlike wings, airborne machines could make tighter turns in cluttered spaces, such as around buildings or in forests, and could better navigate rough air, Floreano says (SN: 1/24/15). The new robot, described January 16 in Science Robotics, also offers a way to...