ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science

Flying ‘Robotic pigeon’ brings us closer to bird-like drones

Engineers created PigeonBot, adding pigeon feathers to a flying robot

Fermin KoopbyFermin Koop
January 20, 2020
in Inventions, News, Research, Science
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

Strong and muscular fliers, pigeons are naturally suited to handle the blowy winds between buildings in large cities. That’s why engineers have now turned to them for inspiration, adding pigeon flight feathers to an airborne robot called PigeonBot.

Credit Standford University.

The robotic pigeon integrates true elements of traditional flying machines with elements of biology. David Lentink and colleagues at Stanford University didn’t try to build a machine to act like a bird, which would have been highly challenging. Instead, they closely studied biological mechanisms to learn how birds fly.

“I really wanted to understand how birds change the shape of their wings,” said David Lentink to Popular Science, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford and a co-author on a new study which was published in the journal Science Robotics.

Credit: Lentink et al.

Lentink and the team studied common pigeons, looking at their skeletons and feathers. They discovered that the birds control the flight through about 40 feathers, using four “wrist” and “finger” joints to steer their movements. With that knowledge, they recreated the same mechanisms but in a drone driven by propellers.

Image credits: Chang et al (2019) / Science Robotics.

The drone’s body is formed by a foam board frame, with an embedded GPS and a remote-control receiver. The maneuverable wings have actual feathers from pigeons attached. Previous prototypes had carbon and glass fiber but were much heavier, something now solved with the new wing design.

The PigeonBot’s flying capabilities are enabled by a propeller, a fuselage, and a tail. It has motors, a pair per each wing, that can adjust each of the artificial wings and the feathers at two different joints. The researchers can use a remote to move the wing and lead to the robot to turn and bank, mimicking a real pigeon.

“We determined that birds can steer using their fingers,” Letnink said. Both birds’ wings and human arms share basic structural similarities, he and his team argued. For example, wings have humerus, radius and ulna bones and at each wingtip, birds have finger-like anatomy that can move 30 degrees.

Developing the PigeonBot had its challenges and lessons learned for the researchers. One discovery was that the robot works best when all the feathers come from the same bird. Also, incorporating them into the machine required maintenance, specifically smoothing the feathers by hand.

RelatedPosts

Meet the world’s first robot chef, for the rich and lazy
Check out the Petman robot workout – frighteningly realistic [VIDEO]
University of California 3D printed fish are the most advanced microbots we built to date
Wave-powered swimming robots completes epic 9,000 journey at sea

There are parallels between the PigeonBot and actual planes. That’s why Letnik believes that airplanes of the future will make use of morphing wings by incorporating lessons from pigeons and other birds. “You won’t see a feathers airplane but you’ll find mart materials in them,” he argued.

Tags: Airplanespigeonsrobots

Share74TweetShare
Fermin Koop

Fermin Koop

Fermin Koop is a reporter from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds an MSc from Reading University (UK) on Environment and Development and is specialized in environment and climate change news.

Related Posts

News

China released an open source kung-fu robot and we’re not really sure why

byMihai Andrei
4 months ago
Future

Meet the smallest and fastest robot-insects ever developed

byMihai Andrei
1 year ago
A colorful image of anthrobot with cilia on its outer surface.
Biology

Scientists create healing microbots made of human skin cells

byRupendra Brahambhatt
2 years ago
A robot attached to wires.
Anthropology

Researchers tried out AI preachers — and it didn’t go so well

byRupendra Brahambhatt
2 years ago

Recent news

The Fungus Behind the Pharaoh’s Curse Might Help Cure Leukemia

July 2, 2025

The Woman of Margaux: Reconstructing the Face and Life of a 10,500-Year-Old Hunter-Gatherer

July 2, 2025

An Overlooked Hill in Bolivia Turned Out to Be One of the Andes’ Oldest Temples

July 2, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.