NETHERLANDS: New robotic surveillance mechanical bird being developed, the RoboSwift

Record ID: 402044

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: New robotic surveillance mechanical bird being developed, the RoboSwift
  • Date: 8th March 2008
  • Summary: ROBOSWIFT'S SURVEILLANCE CAMERA FOOTAGE
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Netherlands
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: Science / Technology,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA5AI4V8WUFYVK6CUBS40GDK13F
  • Story Text: The revolutionary RoboSwift is the creation of Delft University's Technology department and what has got them really excited is the fact that, unlike similar engines, this tiny, life-size mechanical bird can move its wings backwards.
    That means its super efficient and looks like a real bird once it flies overhead going fairly much undetected by the human eye.
    They call the mechanism 'morphing wings' which was developed with the help of the Experimental Zoology department of Wageningen University.
    During its lifetime, a common swift flies the equivalent of five times the distance to the Moon and back.
    Team tutor David Lentink says the reason for the swift's stealth is that the bird is constantly adjusting or 'morphing' its wings which makes for more efficient flying.
    And so they applied the same principle to their own contraption.
    A student who worked on the project, Abishek Sahai, says its not the first robotic bird ever but that because of the wing technology this RoboSwift is the only one of its kind worldwide.
    Although there are some military aircraft - such as the F14 Tomcat and the English-German Tornado - which are equipped with so-called swing wings, none of these significantly reduce the surface area of the wing.
    That means they miss out on the benefits of 'morphing'. Also, these aircraft do not steer by means of the variable wing shape.

    "There are some people in Florida who are working also on morphing, but they are more in twisting of the wings like a seagull and different birds, but morphing that we use, the sweep-back with area reduction, that is actually unique, nowhere else in the world it's been done," Sahai says.
    The project is sponsored by the Dutch police force who hope to use it to monitor potentially volatile crowds thanks to the little cameras attached to it.
    Unfortunately, the RoboSwift is missing a few intuitive skills such as keeping away from trees and solid objects in general.
    And so after a couple of successful flights in the park this little swift crashed into a tree.
    Another student working on this project Jan Wouter says he's not put off. They will just have to build another one.

    "It flew into the tree, quite uncontrollable and that's just beyond its maximum strength, so to say, so we'll rebuild it and make sure we have a new RoboSwift to fly in India," Wouter says.
    The RoboSwift team is due to leave on Friday to Agra, in India, to take part in the American-Asiatic Micro Air Vehicle Competition on March 10. US Army will be there as well, looking for clever inventions in the field of surveillance.
    At a presentation the developers explained that just as with the common swift, RoboSwift folds its feathers backwards, thereby changing the wing area, sweep, slenderness and camber. They say that this enhances RoboSwift's performance envelope, which means that RoboSwift is at the same time efficient in both low speed regions and in high speed regions. The tail planes, used for flight control and stability were specially designed in a see through material.

    "It's not only efficient flyer, because it looks like a bird it's also inconspicuous. It can fly and observe and people will not notice it immediately, they will think, hey, it's a bird," says Lentink.
    RoboSwift has three mini-cameras: two in the front and one pointed towards the ground. The two front looking cameras will be used for video-piloting and will be displayed on a virtual-reality headset. These two cameras can also be used for observing swifts when on a bio-research mission.
    The ground-looking camera will be used for ground surveillance, which supports the team's ground vehicle in the India competition.
    This footage will be displayed on a separate monitor. The footage of all three cameras can be sent back to earth via a wireless link, so ultra small video transmitters are also taken onboard of RoboSwift.

    "I definitively think in a few years these planes will be around and will be used for observation, because there is such a big demand in the market, and I am not only talking about military being interested, that's not our main goal, we are interested in civil applications for the police for example, that's why the Dutch police force is supporting us," says Lentink.
    So its back to the drawing board for these students to will have to find a way of keeping the RoboSwift away from hard objects but once this little detail is resolved, RoboSwift could become the Flying RoboCop of the future.
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