Latest Ornithopter Stories

Robotic device built in New Mexico helps analyze hovering birdsHummingbirds rank among the world's largest and most accomplished hovering animals, but how do they manage it in gusty winds?A team of researchers at New Mexico State University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, and Continuum Dynamics Inc. has built a robotic hummingbird wing to discover the answer, which they describe today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting...

Aviation history was made when the University of Toronto's human-powered aircraft with flapping wings became the first of its kind to fly continuously.The "Snowbird" performed its record-breaking flight on August 2 at the Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham, Ont., witnessed by the vice-president (Canada) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world-governing body for air sports and aeronautical world records. The official record claim was filed this...

A group of Japanese researchers, who publish their findings today Thursday, 20 May in IOP Publishing's Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, have succeeded in building a fully functional replica model "“ an ornithopter "“ of a swallowtail butterfly, and they have filmed their model butterfly flying.Among the various types of butterflies, swallowtails are unique in that their wing area is very large relative to their body mass. This combined with their overlapping fore wings means that their...