Flapping-wing robot achieves self-takeoff by adopting reconfigurable mechanisms
The essential missing (or maybe I just missed it) video:
https://youtu.be/tD5I6x_bPkw?si=KFTx89LmPjrVu5Ib
Edit - better video:
https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/video/2025/bird-like-robot-with-n...
I used to be obsessed with rc ornithopters but I always thought the main problem was that hulking gear ratio/mechanism and the oscillation making it not really great for flight compared to fixed wing/propeller driven.
This one (servo driven) is really light compared to the usual RC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuOw6BUOo78
This guy does great work, it's like his obsession https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrB1pKInIu0
Pretty cool. Just two servos per wing, with one shared BLDC motor to provide the power to the strokes. That's comparable to what normal fixed wing drones have. Extreme mechanical complexity though.
I can't see this being practical, but it makes for one hell of a tech demo. Wish there was footage available. It feels really incomplete without a video of this bird taking off, flying and landing.
For the videos: search the page for "Movies S1 to S5" And click download to download a zip file of five videos. The fifth video shows the actual flight. Albeit, there's a string attached to the top, which doesn't appear to be helping it, but I'm not certain.
The birds aren't real people are gonna love this.
What an amazing quality article.
I look forward to Boston Dynamics turning this into something that will haunt my nightmares.
Robots aren’t real.