A tiny beginning of real-life Horizon: engineers have created a bird-like drone that leaps into the air to take off. Photo and video

Engineers have created a unique bird-like robot. To take off, this tiny technological marvel jumps into the air.

According to scientists, the spring-like legs will be a revolutionary approach to creating new drones. After all, there is no need to accelerate or use wings to take off, TechXplore writes.

The new robot was created by a team of roboticists from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, working with a colleague from the University of California.

The idea for such legs came to the researchers when they noticed that crows near their office used their legs to jump into flight. This seemed to require less energy than using their wings alone. The wisdom of nature inspired the scientists to design and build a flying robot.

The researchers noted that the crows used their legs not only to take flight but also to walk, run, and jump. This prompted the team of scientists to develop a bird-like robot with legs that could be used in a similar way.

To simplify the robot, the scientists chose a fixed-wing design for flight. The engineers also decided to use a V-shape for the tail. The engine in front was driven by a single propeller.

After creating the spring-loaded design, the researchers conducted tests and found that their small robot, which they named RAVEN (Robotic Avian-inspired Vehicle for multiple ENvironments), could walk and jump like crows and ravens.

The scientists also saw that after some tweaking, the robot could jump when its rotor rotated to get airborne. According to the experts, this design seems to be a viable solution to achieving multimodal locomotion for unmanned aerial vehicles.

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