A robotic chook with flapping wings lined in actual feathers has flown for the primary time. It may very well be used to supply perception into how actual birds fly, or create stealthy drones that seem to observers as regular wildlife.
Researchers at Guangxi University in China and Chinese agency Bee-eater Technology constructed a carbon fibre skeleton linked with aluminium joints and a few 3D-printed plastic components. It was lined in a skinny foam after which layered with actual goose feathers in a sample that mimicked the best way they’d lay on an actual chook.
An electrical motor powered the flapping wings, utilizing …