March 7th 2008 02:03 am
Soaring Spybot RoboSwift Mocks Real Birds (and Pays the Price) [Robots]
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The RoboSwift, built by researchers at the Delft University of Technology, is among the first flying machines with a “morphing” wing sweep. As you’ll see in the video below, its wings reduce in surface area when pulled back to limit drag, the way the wings of actual fast-flying swifts do. Unlike the real birds, however, the RoboSwift is designed to spy on you. The dudes from Delft are so proud of their little 3-oz. beast, they reckon they can even use it to observe other birds without being noticed—they just have to find a way to fold up that propeller once RoboSwift is aloft. Stashing that long-ass antenna on the end of the tail might help too. In the video below you can see it soar, spy—and crash into a tree—like a true master of espionage. |
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