Comment on China has introduced a drone that flies like a bird. The new invention could turn the drone industry upside down

CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• thzihdd@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Exactly

  en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festo_SmartBird

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  • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    wingspan of 1.96 meters.

    Not exactly bird like like these other ones though…

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    • anomnom@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      How about this one?

      schylling.com/product/tim-bird-blister/

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• LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It also seems to have fewer purposes. If you are trying to get footage or even just a picture it seems like a normal drone is much easier. Takeoff, landing, hovering seem to be weighted to the quad copter design.

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  • Sanctus@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    These would have fantastical scouting capabilities. Pretty alright at being undercover as long as the target isnt looking for them. You could easily storm a few places unexpectedly with a little bit of explosives and these. This is that shit the Wizard and the evil chick were drooling over in Wicked.

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    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      If your putting explosives on these things I don’t think it matters. You wouldn’t hear the whirl of the rotors until after it got within striking range.

      youtube.com/shorts/rmRnw-PzV0U

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      • Sanctus@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I would assume the visuals are key here. You can’t normally hear birds flapping anyway. They just look like birds.

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    • CosmoNova@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s the perfect weapon to spy on other countries for them because any bird would stick out like a sour thumb in China so it can’t be used against them. Meanwhile in other countries it wouldn’t even be looked at.

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      • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Is this a Mao Sparrow reference or did all their air pollution kill the birds?

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  • adespoton@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The one thing it has going for it is covert surveillance.

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    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Bird circles 80 times with 15 second gaps of the camera pointed in the wrong direction is all I can imagine. You’d have to swoop the bird directly at the target you wanted to capture the image of unless you are controlling the bird and using a floating camera that you are pointing at the target and rotating separately. Which means the odds of you crashing are going up drastically.

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      • adespoton@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Imagine a camera on the bottom of the body instead of where the eyes would be. Now have it circle like an eagle, flapping as needed. Telephoto lens.

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      • taulover@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Just use a 360 degree camera with stabilization

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  • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This might be much more efficient

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    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Plane vs helicopter I imagine. Plane should have a longer range, helicopter is better to get footage.

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