Man has always dreamt about flying. Bionic Bird? Is it really a biological bird? No, it is the world’s first smartphone-controlled drone that resembles and flies like a real bird. This is our review.
History of Bionic Bird Drone
What started off a child’s dream in 1969 has now come to reality. Bionic Bird is a flying robot that was developed by a French startup (Bionic) led by an inventor by the name Edwin Van Ruymbeke (aeronautic engineer).
“Today my dream is to create a Bionic Bird for the 21st century”, says Ruymbeke.
The Bionic Bird is an ornithopter drone which means that it is designed to fly by flapping it’s wings.
After Ruymbeke’s Bionic, we have so far seen the emergence of other ornithopter drones such as the Metafly and Avitron.
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How the Bird Drone Works
So what is the bionic bird drone? This is a biomimetic bird that is app-controlled using Android and Apple IOS devices which have Bluetooth 4.0 link. This is capable of supporting a range of up to 100 meters.
The bird can thus be controlled in an agile and intuitive way simply by tilting the phone in the desired direction and using touch controls to regulate speed. This is achieved by the power offered by the smartphone’s magnetometer and accelerometer.
It is the only drone that rarely scares biological birds which can be attributed to its mechanical flattering capability. Ironically, predators have been observed to swoop in close to find out if it can qualify as a potential meal.
Features of Bionic Bird Drone
- Flying Speed: 4 to 12 mph
- Flight Time: 8 mins
- Charging time: 12 mins
- Range: 350 feet
- Flying modes: 4
- Weight: 0.33oz
- App Compatibility: iPhone and Android
- 1 egg (portable charger) -800 mAh
Our Bionic Bird Drone Review
After flying this robot bird for a couple of hours we really had so much fun. However, it was not easy to fly at first but that is where the fun lies trying to learn something new.
The Bird’s body is made of carbon fiber and elastic foam which are strong enough to survive impacts during landing and accidental crashes.
The drone has a small and lightweight onboard 50 mAh lithium polymer battery which plays an important role in ensuring its weight falls to a mere 9 g. However, the drone comes with an external egg-shaped ‘Turbo-Charge®’ portable charger with a staggering capacity of 800 mAh.
We found that charging the external battery for about 12 minutes provides enough juice for a total of 10 eight-minute-long flights.
The inventor says that the bird is driven by a 0.8 watts electric motor rotating at 55000 rpm. The bird can attain a speed of 12 mph and thus can be flown in moderately windy conditions (10 knots).
The wings flap at the rate of 18 flaps per second. The bird is also capable of reaching a height of 100 meters while performing aerial stunts.
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You must be thinking, this must be very expensive. Not really, it is competitively priced at around $120 which shows that the inventor had affordability in mind. You can check it’s current price or buy it on Amazon.
The bird’s development team is now focusing on expanding its size and capabilities. This will include smooth control by using a remote-controlled tail, improved stable stationary flight as well as a high-resolution camera. This will give birth to the ultimate spy drone which will blend in nature.
This is the furtive drone and it will offer the ultimate flying experience to mankind. Did you kNOw that a Bionic Bird was in existence? Now you know. Ooh, NASA says there is liquid water on Mars, just wish the Bionic Bird was capable of taking us there!!