Flying Robot Animatronic Birds & Dragonfly : Mechanical morphing wings

A compilation of Robot or animatronic birds I have designed and built for various projects. The first seen, A flying Rainbow Lorikeet was built in 1988 and uses wing sweep and twist and head movements for all flight control like a Nano Hummingbird. It has no flaps, ailerons or elevators in the usual sense , but mimics real bird flight control by moving its wings in the same fashion as a real bird.
The other projects are from various TV adverts and movies I worked on where I employed my detailed knowledge of bird anatomy and flight.
Unfortunately I was not present when some of the Pelican and Duck characters were programmed and performed by others. I would have preferred to have done the wing programming myself as I had spent many months studying all aspects of bird flight in detail.
Even though the characters were perfectly capable of absolute realism, they were programmed with exaggerated comical movements rather than accurate flight actions. Sometimes directors prefer exaggerated action over realism.

The Peter Pan parrot was a tiny animatronic character with self contained flapping and folding wings, top and bottom beak, full eye action, waggling tongue and mechanised peg leg.
Again the parrot was required to be performed with comic movements rather than realistic movements.
His head foot and body were controlled by rods which were digitally removed by ILM.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Festo
• smartbird
• Nano
• Hummingbird
• Robot
• bionic
• Bird
• Flying
• Flapping
• wings
• mechanical
• wing
• flight
• flapping
• active
• torsion
• articulated
• torsional
• drive
• functional
• integration
• aerodynamic
• aerodynamics
• lightweight
• ornithopter
• model
• herring
• gullOrnithopter
• Animatronic
• biomimicry
• Duck
• Pelican
• Parrot
• Dragonfly
• Crow
• AeroVironment

[Crixe]

@GregOrca Cool, well I admire your work it's top notch. 

[GregOrca]

@Crixe

It's probably not obvious from the video but the flying lorikeet has full moving wing sweep like an F14, but up down & back forth, wing twisting and "wrist" articulation just like the mechanical pelican and parrot. In order to fly the movements are very subtle, otherwise it would tumble and roll due to the size of the moving surfaces.

Only a few centimetres of movement, barely noticeable on the wings, are enough to perform severe aerobatic manoeuvres.

[GregOrca]

@Crixe

Hi Crixe. Yes, I've seen the wonderful work that festo in particular does in this area.

I didn't mean to sound defensive.

The lorikeet in my vid does exactly that with wings that have multiple pivot points and covered in spandex to maintain a smooth shape. The festo birds have visible open gaps where they articulate, mine didn't so the articulation isn't obvious.

The lorrikeet is soaring on updrafts in about an 18knot wind here as you can see from my flapping shirt.

[Crixe]

@GregOrca I have no doubt the bird was flying but have you seen the latest robotic birds that use wings that bend in several points and turn to catch more updraft allowing them to fly even in high winds (still no word on when this will actually be useful.) however I found your robots to be very well made and if they work as an actual creature all the better. I applaud your work, and find it quite fascinating. When I was younger I wanted to build things like this myself.

[GregOrca]

@highbreedo

Tom Tug is an English expression meaning a prankster or joker where the term "Tomfoolery" comes from. He was known as "the Humorist" and would tow boats around for fun often greatly alarming the occupants

[GregOrca]

@highbreedo

Have a look at my website killersofeden . com I have a page of photos of the killers as recorded around 1900 and 1910.

The orca in the museum is Old Tom, originally named Tom Tug in the 1890s

[GregOrca]

@highbreedo "just wondering what the future of animatronics is in a world of cgi"

It's pretty dead in the movie world but still a major industry for theatre and themeparks.

The guys I developed the Peter Pan croc with do the "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "how to train your Dragon" stage show.

CGi is totally dominant in the film industry for most things, but I also do special effects, ie, mechanical gags, blowing up shit, collapsing stuff, atmospherics, stunt gags etc.

[highbreedo]

@GregOrca its cool I believe you you are very talented in your field congrats on that...

[highbreedo]

@GregOrca I do stuff lol:)....no offence intended just wondering what the future of animatronics is in a world of cgi...

[highbreedo]

@GregOrca I love the story of those killer whales at eden they used to help the aborigines to fish then they helped the fisherman..can't remember the killer whales name though??