Festo’s bio-inspired robots have gotten a lot of coverage in the media in the past. The BionicSwift is a robotic swallow that can fly loops and tight turns with agility. It can fly with other artificial swallows in a coordinated and autonomous manner.
These birds have a length of 44.5cm with a wingspan of 68cm. They weigh only 42 grams. As Festo explains:
the wings are modeled on the plumage of birds. The individual lamellae are made of an ultralight, flexible but very robust foam and lie on top of each other like shingles. Connected to a carbon quill, they are attached to the actual hand and arm wings as in the natural model.
The body houses a brushless motor, two servomotors, the battery, and everything needed for the wing-flapping mechanism.
