The first robot to bend its wings and fly like a bird

The PigeonBot robot changes the shape of its joints and controls its wings to navigate like a pigeon.

Pigeons can negatively affect human life if the number is too large, similar to mice. However, scientists have found the value of pigeons to create the perfect blueprint for a new generation of aircraft.

Pigeons can change the shape and structure of their wings by plucking their own feathers or folding their feathers together, allowing them to fly faster than today's drones. Using new research into how pigeons control joints and feathers on their wings, scientists have created a robotic pigeon called PigeonBot that has real pigeon-like wings. The research will pave the way to building faster aircraft. 


The researchers bent and spread the wings of dead pigeons to learn how to control the shape of their wings. The results showed that the angles of the two wings, the wing collar and the vertebrae are related to the wing feathers. The orientation of the long, stiff feathers will help the bird fly easily and reach the desired speed. 

David Lentink, an engineer and biologist at Stanford University, said that besides laying the groundwork for building drones, the interesting thing about the PigeonBot robot is that it can flexibly change the shape of its wings. like birds, something no robot has ever done before.

During flight tests, Lentink's team observed that simply changing the knuckles of one wing would help the robot rotate. This shows that birds also use knuckles to navigate flight.