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Robird Flapping Wing Drones Keep Airports Safe
Robirds are flapping wing drones that use mechanical biomimicry to round up birds that menace planes at airports and encourage them to fly elsewhere.
(Robird at work vodeo)
Robirds are truly unique remotely controlled robotic birds of prey, with the realistic appearance and weight of their living counterparts. Robirds use flapping wing flight as a means of propulsion, with a flight performance comparable to real birds. Based on nature itself, the Robirds offer new and exciting possibilities in bird control. By triggering the instinct of birds, through the combination of silhouette and wing movement, chasing off birds becomes fully controllable. We make sure that the man on the ground is in control of what happens in the air. We have developed two types of Robirds: the falcon, which can be used to chase off birds up to 3kg, and the eagle to chase away any type of bird.
Greg Bear described a flapping wing drone in his 2003 novel Darwin's Children:
Mitch heard a rasping, flacketing buzz, like a big insect, and glanced up with a scowl into the stormy gloom. Saw nothing...Little Bird gave them a series of clear, frozen pictures, at the ends of blurry swoops, the pictures cameoed on the big screens in blue wrapped squares.
Two names came up on the last screen. Facial matching had led to an identification that Augustine did not need. The man walking around the house was Mitch Rafelson...
Browning told her head to one side, jerking her gaze between Augustine and the displays. "I didn't hear what the big guys said." The Little Bird had backed off about 50 feet and was hovering. Its little fuel cell would be depleted soon, and it would have to return or be retrieved by the command vehicle.
(Read more about Little Bird)
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