Flying

Engineers at MIT have added a new ability to existing flying robots – they can now glow when they flap their wings. Inspired by fireflies, this fluorescence could help with communication or tracking of the tiny, lightweight robots.

No matter how good our human designs may be, there’s no shame in copying Mother Nature’s homework. A new nature-inspired flying robot can flap its wings even more efficiently than an insect, using a unique electrostatic “zipping” mechanism.

Whether you think it’s cool or unnerving, robots are becoming more agile – and Caltech’s LEONARDO looks like one of the most nimble examples yet. LEO walks on two legs, jumps and flies, can balance on a slackline and even skateboard.

A team of engineers has given microchips a new ability – the power of flight. Inspired by wind-dispersed seeds, these “microfliers” are shaped like tiny propellers to catch the wind, and may be the smallest flying structures ever made by humans.

Pterosaurs included the largest flying animals ever, and a new study has uncovered biological secrets that helped them grow so large. CT scans revealed that the neck vertebrae of giant pterosaurs had a supporting structure unlike any other animal.

If your busy lifestyle leaves little time for housework, robot vacuum cleaners can help. If you want your robovac to clean upstairs, you'll have to carry it up and set it off. Peter Sripol wasn't happy with that situation so made his Roomba fly.

Airbus' new fello-fly demonstrator project will test the idea that two commercial aircraft flying in tandem can boost flight efficiency while reducing emissions, based on the technique used by flocks of birds.

London Gatwick Airport is starting a two-month test of new methods to speed up aircraft boarding without queues. By combining digital displays with new boarding sequences, the goal is to make getting on a plane more efficient and less stressful.

Design studio PriestmanGoode recently revealed a sustainable in-flight meal tray concept that includes edible packaging. The eco-friendly design is part of a project addressing the impact of plastic waste, with a focus on the aviation industry.

Boeing is lifting another suite of experimental technologies into the air as part of its EcoDemonstrator program. Traveling aboard this time around are 50 projects in all, including ones geared toward smart toilets and others toward improving passengers’ view outside the plane. ​

Like the Wright Brothers, evolution didn’t get flight exactly right the first time. It takes experimentation to find the best design, and now palaeontologists have found one of nature’s quirky side projects – a strange dinosaur that was covered in feathers but had leathery bat-like wings.

On the timeline of the evolution of flight in birds, gliding seems like a logical first step. But new research suggests that some species could have made the jump straight to flapping flight without a gliding phase in the meantime, which could force a rewrite of our understanding of avian evolution.