A biorobotic bird
Modeled after a northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)*
Presented here is a BEAran biorobotics bird. An artificial bird propelled with an
oscillating flapping motion drive-train with dynamic adaptive controls. A high-tech, very sophisticated and complex mechatronics device build into an ultralight composite body and wings. It consists of 153 unique parts, of which 81 custom made. The latter being electronic circuitry/PCBA's and mechanical components: 3D-printed parts; CNC-milled aircraft-grade aluminum, brass and (spring) steel; XPS, fiberglass and carbon composites. Developed and prototyped by myself, including the controls and software code.
The torque required for this flapping motion drive-train is a time-varying, non-linear load that peaks during stroke reversal and when accelerating the wing against maximum aerodynamic resistance. The drive-train must overcome both aerodynamic forces and inertial forces (accelerating the mass). One of the many challenges was to balance these high-torque peaks with small ultralight engineering materials while controlling the mechanical dynamics perfectly with electronics and software.
As is the case for most of the BEAran solutions systems, it all started with a dream. A dream to develop an ornithopter mimicking bird flight as realistic as possible. Many years of study, hard work, sleepless nights, testing and countless failures (I was on the brink of giving up multiple times) finally paid out and resulted in this realistic flying robotic bird. To date I have yet to see a more realistic flying robotic bird or ornithopter.
Filing for another patent application is in progress, therefore I will not share too many details of this design yet.
Northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), filmed with a BEAran NM⁴
Northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis), filmed with a BEAran NM³
*Northern goshawks, bioindicators
This species, over time, turned into a personal favorite as I became more and more intrigued by them since I started studying them as a research volunteer in 2009.
Northern goshawks are highly specialized apex predators. This means they can act as bioindicators or indicator species for the ecosystems they are a part of (Derlink et al., 2018; Natsukawa & Sergio, 2022, BTO, 2018; Poirazidis, 2017; Van Hoogen et al., 2013; Van Turnhout et al., 2008). When data is properly collected and analyzed it can be used as markers for biodiversity of an ecosystem and used to assess the health and contamination levels of that ecosystem. Studying them can even help to predict the status of other species. More information about this can be found here.