A team of roboticists at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne has designed, built, and demonstrated a bird-like robot that can launch itself into flight using spring-like legs. The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature.
The inspiration for this project came from observing crows near their office, which use their legs to jump into flight, appearing to use less energy than using only their wings. The team designed a flying robot based on the crow design and created a bird-like robot with legs that can be used like those of crows.
The researchers chose a fixed-wing design for flight and used a split-V shape for the tail. An engine powered a single propeller, allowing the robot to walk, hop, and jump in ways similar to crows and ravens. The team conducted tests and found that with some tweaking, their robot, named RAVEN, could jump into the air as its rotor spun.
Aimy Wissa, an aerospace engineer at Princeton University, published a News & Views piece suggesting possible real-world applications for this innovation.
Source: https://techxplore.com/news/2024-12-roboticists-bird-robot-air-flight.html