TEDGlobal 2011
Markus Fischer: A robot that flies like a bird
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Plenty of robots can fly -- but none can fly like a real bird. That is, until Markus Fischer and his team at Festo built SmartBird, a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull, that flies by flapping its wings. A soaring demo fresh from TEDGlobal 2011.
Markus Fischer - Designer
Markus Fischer led the team at Festo that developed the first ultralight artificial bird capable of flying like a real bird. Full bio
Markus Fischer led the team at Festo that developed the first ultralight artificial bird capable of flying like a real bird. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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It is a dream of mankind
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to fly like a bird.
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Birds are very agile.
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They fly, not with rotating components,
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so they fly only by flapping their wings.
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So we looked at the birds,
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and we tried to make a model
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that is powerful, ultralight,
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and it must have excellent aerodynamic qualities
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that would fly by its own
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and only by flapping its wings.
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So what would be better [than] to use
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the Herring Gull, in its freedom,
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circling and swooping over the sea,
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and [to] use this as a role model?
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So we bring a team together.
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There are generalists and also specialists
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in the field of aerodynamics
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in the field of building gliders.
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And the task was to build
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an ultralight indoor-flying model
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that is able to fly over your heads.
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So be careful later on.
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And this was one issue:
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to build it that lightweight
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that no one would be hurt
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if it fell down.
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So why do we do all this?
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We are a company in the field of automation,
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and we'd like to do very lightweight structures
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because that's energy efficient,
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and we'd like to learn more about
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pneumatics and air flow phenomena.
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So I now would like you
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to [put] your seat belts on
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and put your hats [on].
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So maybe we'll try it once --
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to fly a SmartBird.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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(Applause)
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(Applause)
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So we can now
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look at the SmartBird.
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So here is one without a skin.
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We have a wingspan of about two meters.
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The length is one meter and six,
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and the weight,
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it is only 450 grams.
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And it is all out of carbon fiber.
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In the middle we have a motor,
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and we also have a gear in it,
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and we use the gear
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to transfer the circulation of the motor.
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So within the motor, we have three Hall sensors,
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so we know exactly where
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the wing is.
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And if we now beat up and down ...
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we have the possibility
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to fly like a bird.
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So if you go down, you have the large area of propulsion,
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and if you go up,
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the wings are not that large,
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and it is easier to get up.
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So, the next thing we did,
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or the challenges we did,
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was to coordinate this movement.
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We have to turn it, go up and go down.
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We have a split wing.
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With a split wing
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we get the lift at the upper wing,
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and we get the propulsion at the lower wing.
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Also, we see
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how we measure the aerodynamic efficiency.
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We had knowledge about
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the electromechanical efficiency
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and then we can calculate
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the aerodynamic efficiency.
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So therefore,
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it rises up from passive torsion to active torsion,
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from 30 percent
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up to 80 percent.
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Next thing we have to do,
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we have to control and regulate
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the whole structure.
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Only if you control and regulate it,
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you will get that aerodynamic efficiency.
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So the overall consumption of energy
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is about 25 watts at takeoff
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and 16 to 18 watts in flight.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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Bruno Giussani: Markus, I think that we should fly it once more.
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Markus Fischer: Yeah, sure.
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(Laughter)
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(Gasps)
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(Cheers)
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Markus Fischer - DesignerMarkus Fischer led the team at Festo that developed the first ultralight artificial bird capable of flying like a real bird.
Why you should listen
One of the oldest dreams of mankind is to fly like a bird. Many, from Leonardo da Vinci to contemporary research teams, tried to crack the "code" for the flight of birds, unsuccessfully. Until in 2011 the engineers of the Bionic Learning Network established by Festo, a German technology company, developed a flight model of an artificial bird that's capable of taking off and rising in the air by means of its flapping wings alone. It's called SmartBird. Markus Fischer is Festo's head of corporate design, where he's responsible for a wide array of initiatives. He established the Bionic Learning Network in 2006.
SmartBird is inspired by the herring gull. The wings not only beat up and down but twist like those of a real bird -- and seeing it fly leaves no doubt: it's a perfect technical imitation of the natural model, just bigger. (Even birds think so.) Its wingspan is almost two meters, while its carbon-fiber structure weighs only 450 grams.
Fischer says: "We learned from the birds how to move the wings, but also the need to be very energy efficient."
Markus Fischer | Speaker | TED.com