Up, up and away!
Edwin Van Ruymbeke was the French mastermind behind the Bionic Bird – a remote-controlled bird shaped machine brought to life five years ago through crowdfunding, which could flap its wings and fly! Recently, he has conceptualized an insect-inspired MetaFly.
This little bioinspired robot weighs only 10 grams and spans to a length of 19cm while its wings protrude up to 29-cms. A mechanical coreless motor, which essentially gains its power from a rechargeable lithium-polymer battery, is used to control the flapping wings.
This battery can be charged by an additional 2-channel radio remote control unit. The remote control unit is accompanied with four AA batteries. One cycle of 15-minutes of charge is sufficient enough to allow the machine to fly for a whole eight minutes. Through one set of the remote’s battery life, 15 flights can take place. Additionally you can include a 1,500-mAh power bank which can allow 20 cycles of 12-minute charges to the machine before needing a recharge.
The maximum range of the remote is 100 metres and the fastest airspeed possible is 18 km/hr.
Crashing the flying robot is one thing you don’t need to be concerned about! The head, legs and wings of the machine are all equally flexible because of materials like carbon fiber, liquid crystal polymer and oriented polypropylene that are used during its manufacturing. You can also change the flight characteristics by making adjustments to the angle of the tail.
For now, the MetaFly can be pledged for €69 on Kickstarter and will be available for purchase once production begins. The final retail price is set to €129.
h/t: Design Boom