Smartbird - German ingenuity replicates the flight of a bird... truly beautiful

[Highlander]

This took my breath away...
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Fg_JcKSHUtQ

Designer's promo movie...
http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/11369_11439.htm#id_11439

Documentary on the design...
http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/11369_11468.htm#id_11468

[uwe]

Nö döübt, zis vould haff helpt üs change ze tide of hiSStory ... 

I can see bountiful commercial uses for this. 

But it's no mean feat technically. Except that nature has been doing it for ... when did those first flying dinosaur birds arrive again?

[Highlander]

... and we're fresh down from the trees but still thinking Ad Astra...

Nature has most designs first... nuclear power and solar energy is nothing new too...

[ramone57]

pretty cool.  from the title of the thread, I initially thought it was a Firebird X bass.   

[Pilgrim]

Was that an African or a European swallow?

Cool stuff, and the control shown is also very cool. 

[Lightyear]

Awesome!  That is quite a feat of engineering!

[clankenstein]

wow.thats pretty cool.

[Chris P.]

Very cool!!!

[the mojo hobo]

While it is cool that they have this lightweight thing they can fly indoors wing-flapping flying machines are not new. I remember a program on The Discovery Channel about a replica of a flying dinosaur. It was created in 1985 (yes,  1985) by a company called AeroVironment and now resides at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. This is the company that created the Gossamer Albatross, Solar Challenger, and quit a few other interesting things; they are big into unmanned aircraft. I am sure they already have spy drones that fly like birds, hiding in plain sight.

http://www.avinc.com/uas/adc/quetzalcoatlus/

[mc2NY]

THIS should have been how Gibson promoted its Robot Guitar......with the German accent and lofty comparisons on how it would benefit mankind...and then thrown it up in the air 

[Pilgrim]

I found myself thinking about lift-to-weight ratios and wingbeats per minute.

But my dad was an engineer.

[uwe]

THIS should have been how Gibson promoted its Robot Guitar......with the German accent and lofty comparisons on how it would benefit mankind...and then thrown it up in the air 

[mc2NY]

That Kraftwerk video.....half-way through it I got the horrid flash of Jay_Z jumping out to do a rap in the middle to "modernize" it. UGH!!

Years back, when I was a radio DJ in Rochester NY, we did the co-promotion for the very first American concert by Kraftwerk. It was for the Autobahn tour but I'd been a fan long before that and had the earlier stuff. A pretty strange concert for the time.

Then again, I recall working stage crew for Devo back then as well. A strange gig at the time and cool to see their wacky gear up close.

A great guitar/record store (House Of Guitars & Record Archive) and two great radio stations (WCMF and WSAY) and a great live club/concert scene made Rochester a killer music city back then. Where else could you find a metal underground AM commercial radio station playing early Scorpions, Judas Priest at all hours of the day...and an FM station with it's own in-house studio doing live broadcasts with acts such as Robert Fripp, Gentle Giant, Journey, Brand X, The Grateful Dead.....

WTF happened to the music industry?

[Highlander]

We have sheds in Surrey... and warm beer...

[Freuds_Cat]

We have sheds in Surrey... and warm beer...

\
Mmmmm   pass me a pint of Bombadier please Ken