Flying robots that are inspired by birds [with VIDEOs]

TL;DR: Researchers have developed two advanced robots inspired by birds: RAVEN and Pigeon Bot 2. RAVEN is a drone with robotic legs, while Pigeon Bot 2 is a rudderless robot with real feathers.

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Today I came across videos of two interesting robots that make use of biodesign principles that are inspired by observations of birds.

These advanced designs are opening the door for possible improvements in design for multimodal robotics, aeronautic engineering, and even for our understanding of biological anatomy with regards to flying animals.

First up, we have RAVEN (Robotic Avian-inspired Vehicle for multiple ENvironments). Designed by EPFL, this is a drone that is built with two robotic legs that were modeled after the feet and legs of our feathery friends.

Specifically, Won Dong Shin used computer simulations, iterative experiments, and mathematical models to translate observations of crows on the EPFL campus into mechanical robotic legs.

By maximizing gait diversity and minimizing mass, this drone is not only able to walk, but it can also cross terrain gaps, and even jump 26 centimeters onto a higher surface. This research, published in Nature provides insight into the kinetic efficiency and potential energy of mutli-modal robots and animals that are capable of both walking and flying. EPFL describes it like this:

This led us to not only come up with the most multimodal winged drone to date, but also to shed light on the energetic efficiency of jumping for take-off in both birds and drones.

And they go on to say that they learned that the most efficient way to begin flight is by jumping into it. Here's the video:

I learned about RAVEN from the Verge.

Next up, we have Pigeon Bot 2 from Lentink Lab. This was described in Science. Here's an excerpt from the Abstract:

Biologists hypothesize that birds stabilize and control gliding flight without rudders by using their wing and tail reflexes, but no rudderless airplane has a morphing wing or tail that can change shape like a bird. Our rudderless biohybrid robot, PigeonBot II, can damp its Dutch roll instability (caused by lacking a vertical tail) and control flight by morphing its biomimetic wing and tail reflexively like a bird. The bird-inspired adaptive reflexive controller was tuned in a wind tunnel to mitigate turbulent perturbations, which enabled PigeonBot II to fly autonomously in the atmosphere with pigeon-like poses.

This robot uses real pigeon feathers on the wings and tail in order to eliminate the need for fixed wings and tail fins in traditional aviation design. Like an actual bird, the feathers can be fanned out or drawn together. Also like the robot's biological counterpart, the wings and tail can rotate and tilt in and out of the horizontal plane.

It turns out that this design may improve aerodynamics, fuel efficiency, agility, and stealth in aeronautic design. The design has been tested in wind tunnels and in autonomous flight. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any videos to show it in flight, but here's the video that I saw first:

And here's another one I found that describes more about it:

I learned about PigeonBot II in the weekly roundup of robot videos from IEEE Spectrum.

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Thank you for your time and attention.

As a general rule, I up-vote comments that demonstrate "proof of reading".

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Steve Palmer is an IT professional with three decades of professional experience in data communications and information systems. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's degree in computer science, and a master's degree in information systems and technology management. He has been awarded 3 US patents.

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^{Pixabay license, source}

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