Ornithopter drone, fly like an eagle
An ornithopter drone that flies like a bird. How cool is that? At least cool enough to develop a drone form of it.
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The ornithopter drone Metabird
The Metabird, the ornithopter drone from the company Bionic Bird, is about the size of a starling and can be controlled up to a distance of 150 m. The drone can perform all kinds of acrobatic moves and moves by beating its wings. The robotic bird stays in the air for about 10 minutes on a battery charge. Then you have to charge for 12 minutes. With a price of around € 90, this is not a very cheap drone, but you can have a lot of fun with it.
What is an ornithopter?
In everyday life, we only know two types of aircraft: fixed-wing aircraft, such as jumbo jets, and rotary-wing aircraft, such as helicopters and gyrocopters.
These forms are very rare in nature. Rotating wings do not occur at all and soaring birds – which keep their wings stationary – are only encountered as large scavenging birds of prey: condors and vultures. Most birds fly by flapping their wings. In theory this is more energy efficient than flying with fixed wings.
The reason that animal-like animals hardly move with their wings is that they use strong rising air, thermals. That is of course much more favorable for energy. It is therefore best to compare them with gliders.
Flapping wings more energy-efficient?
Most flying animals use flapping wings. In theory, a flapping-wing aircraft called an ornithopter would be more energy efficient at low speeds than a fixed-wing aircraft. Unfortunately, our knowledge of aerodynamics is not yet good enough to build a competitive ornithopter. A first prototype with a human pilot on board took to the skies in 1999, almost a century after the Wright brothers’ first flight.
In the Dune sf-series ornithopters appear instead of the helicopters and planes of today.
Why an ornithopter drone is useful
At airports, cherry orchards and other places where birds are a nuisance, a bird of prey is very effective at scaring them away. That is why several inventors have been working on a lifelike ornithopter drone. But now for the first time there is an affordable ornithopter drone that you can control wirelessly with your smartphone.
Is the ornithopter drone really the future of flying? Now you can discover that. Are you tired of the well-known helicopter-like drones, then an ornithopter drone is a whole new flying experience. Learn more at Bionic Bird.
