Using robotic and animal models, researchers have shown that some dinosaurs were already flapping their rudimentary wings as a side effect of running, prior to evolving the ability to fly. The finding ...

Animal flight performance has been studied using models developed for man-made aircraft. For an aeroplane with fixed wings, the energetic cost as a function of flight speed can be expressed in terms ...

Since the dawn of aviation, birds have been an inspiration for visionaries of flight. And now, engineers are once again looking to feathered friends to inspire the next generation of aircraft wings.

Bio-inspired wind sensing using strain sensors on flexible wings could revolutionize robotic flight control strategy. Researchers have developed a method to detect wind direction with 99% accuracy ...

Taking their cues from the birds, Airbus engineers have flown a scale-model airplane that incorporates flapping wing-tips. Based on the structure of the albatross wing, the remote-controlled ...

Researchers in China have turned to a winged but flightless dinosaur to understand how early animals first learned how to fly. In a study featured in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, scientists ...

Birds fly more efficiently by folding their wings during the upstroke, according to a recent study. The results could mean that wing-folding is the next step in increasing the propulsive and ...

France's military is exploring bird-mimicking, flapping-wing drones (BIOFLY project) to enhance stealth, camouflage, and confuse adversaries in military applications. The BIOFLY drone, weighing about ...

Although wing-flapping micro-drones do already exist, the things tend to be quite fragile – and thus not ideally suited to real-world use. An experimental new one, however, utilizes a softer mechanism ...

As we’re starting to get used to the idea of unmanned drones dropping deliveries on a regular basis, scientists are already working on changing them. How about watching a drone flap its wings on its ...

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a micro-flapping-wing robot that exhibits flight characteristics and speeds similar to those of a bee. An AI-based, ...

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2023 – Penguins aren’t just cute: they’re also speedy. Gentoo penguins are the fastest swimming birds in the world, and that ability comes from their unique and sophisticated ...