Page 30 - Festo Smartbird

Since SmartBird’s crank mechanism does not have a dead centre, it flies like a seagull with smooth, harmo-nious movement of its wings. It owes its agility and manoeuvrability to the intricate arrangement of its elec-tric drive units and push rods, which allows the torso to bend aerodynamically with simultaneous weight dis-placement. Its tail section acts as an elevator and rudder and increases the lifting force. On curves the tail section bends, and during phases of straight flight it serves to stabilise the bird.

The movement of SmartBird’s wings is modelled on that of the herring gull. Their motion consists of two compo-nents. The wings, comprising arm and hand sections, beat up and down, and their amplitude increases from

At Festo too, the creative potential and ideas of each and every employee harmonise to the benefit of all. Smart-Bird’s flight requires technologies that are coordinated right down to the last detail. The processes must reliably mesh throughout.

As in a bird’s body, the internal workings of SmartBird are contained within its torso section: the battery, engine, transmission, crank mechanism and control elec-tronics. The role of the spine is assumed by a fibreglass tube, to which the structural components for the head, the torso and the wing suspension are attached. The wings are activated by an external motor via a spur gear. Sensors determine their exact position at all times, so that the force of their movement and their angle of torsion can be precisely adjusted.