flight | Biomechanics in the Wild

Dune’s Ornithopters: Future or Fantasy?

Thousands of fans stormed to theaters over the first weekend of March 2024 to watch Denis Villaneuve’s highly anticipated Dune: Part 2. Incredible sci-fi visuals filled the big screen, including the fascinating Ornithopter, an aircraft that flies like a dragonfly. With so many modern aircraft inspired by biological flight, what makes insect-like flight, characterized by rapid flapping movements, difficult to engineer?

Model of an Ornithopter, a sci-fi aircraft created by *Dune* author Frank Herbert that resembles a dragonfly.

This question drove my fascination with insect wings and their unique biomechanical properties. They can perform complex aerial maneuvers, remain stable in turbulent environments, and sustain long flight times—all with tiny, delicate wings. We’ll dive into the mechanical and biological factors that make this possible and explore how understanding insect flight paves the way for possible engineering applications such as micro air vehicles (MAVs).

Bat Flight Inspired Flapping Wing Robots Design

You might be familiar with fixed-wing drones, which are popular for filming and photographing. But have you thought about the bio-inspired flapping-wing robots? Researchers who study how bats fly are trying to apply the knowledge to the development of next-gen flying robots.

You might be familiar with fixed-wing drones, which are popular for filming and photographing. But have you thought about the bio-inspired flapping-wing robots? Researchers who study how bats fly are trying to apply the knowledge to the development of next-gen flying robots.

Staying airborne: How bird wings are built for aerodynamic and efficient flight

Flight is a concept that has, until relatively recently in history, eluded humanity. However, birds have been successfully flying for approximately 130 million years, proving themselves to be a physical marvel of the natural world. And while our means of flight have historically been crude in design and performance, nature provides an elegant, efficient solution to get creatures off of the ground. Rüppell’s griffon vultures have been recorded flying as high as 37,000 ft, while some species of shorebirds have been recorded flying as far as from Alaska to New Zealand over eight days without stopping. But how exactly do birds seem to effortlessly overcome gravity so effectively? And perhaps more importantly, how might we apply these answers to improve manmade aircraft?

Innovative plant: How does the dandelion drift its seeds?

How far do you think a dandelion seed can drift from its base plant?

Whirlybirds, helicopters, and Maple seeds

As Maple trees shed their fruits, it is hard not to be captivated by the view and stare in admiration. The free fall of maple seeds is simply graceful. Commonly referred to as helicopters, samaras are the fruit of Maple trees. Inside of each fruit one can find seeds that are used by the parent plant to produce new ones. The nickname helicopter refers to the similarity that exists between its motion as it falls to the ground and that of a helicopter. Indeed, a remarkable aspect of the samaras is the behavior they display as they fall. As the fruit of the Maple seed descends to the ground, it performs a rotating motion that mimics the rotor blade of helicopters in unpowered descent, a behavior that has intrigued scientists and has been the subject of many studies. The auto-gyration motion and flight mechanics of the samaras have been observed in order to explain why and how the fruit rotates on itself as it leaves the tree.

How do Hummingbirds and Nectar Bats Hover?

What do hummingbirds and nectar bats have in common?

Nectar!

Tag: flight