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SmartBird’s precursors

In the fifteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci designed the first flapping-wing models based on the bird. Around four hundred years later, Otto Lilienthal in his scientific treatises analysed the art of flight of the seagull. A so-called ornithopter, an aircraft with single-joint flapping wings, was recently presented by the University of To-ronto. In 2010 a pilot covered about 150 metres in the ornithopter by muscle power alone, once the device had been towed off the ground to become airborne.

Time to fly

2011 is SmartBird’s year of birth. When Jonathan set his own individual speed record, he sensed the beginning of a new era. For Festo too, the scientific deciphering of bird flight signifies the dawn of a new age. In the Bionic Learning Network, Festo’s scientists implement valuable