Festo unveils the BionicOpter, the world’s first dragonfly robot that’s capable of gliding and hovering in mid-air. It features four carbon fiber wings with polyester membranes that can be twisted up to 90 degrees from the horizontal. Continue reading for a video and more information.
Gizmag reports that “at the heart of the beast is an ARM microcontroller, which calculates all of the parameters relating to mechanical adjustment based on input from the onboard inertia, acceleration and position sensors, together with pilot input, then translates these into movement by actuating the servo motors. The complex motion sequences (including flapping frequency of between 15 and 20 Hz, amplitude and installation angle) are handled by the model’s software and electronics, leaving the operator only having to worry about the steering.”
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