(Nanowerk News) Engineers have long sought to unlock the secrets behind insects' uncanny flight abilities and agility in hopes of creating a new class of tiny yet capable flying robots. These flapping ...

Since the dawn of aviation, birds have been an inspiration for visionaries of flight. And now, engineers are once again looking to feathered friends to inspire the next generation of aircraft wings.

A bird banking in a crosswind doesn't rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment ...

Airbus created the AlbatrossONE, a small-scale remote-controlled aircraft with wingtips that can flap like a bird during turbulence to better handle the strong gusts of winds. These hinged, flapping ...

Since the dawn of aviation, birds have been an inspiration for visionaries of flight. And now, engineers are once again looking to feathered friends to inspire the next generation of aircraft wings.

CCTV Military Program. Four flapping-wing drones developed by a research team at the University of Science and Technolo ...

Engineers at Aeronvironment (AV) of Monrovia, California, have demonstrated the world's first successful flight of the smallest ever self-powered, rudderless, aircraft with flapping wings. The nano ...

Bio-inspired wind sensing using strain sensors on flexible wings could revolutionize robotic flight control strategy. Researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo have developed a method to detect wind ...

Although wing-flapping micro-drones do already exist, the things tend to be quite fragile – and thus not ideally suited to real-world use. An experimental new one, however, utilizes a softer mechanism ...

Birds fly more efficiently by folding their wings during the upstroke, according to a recent study. The results could mean that wing-folding is the next step in increasing the propulsive and ...

There are no powered spinning propellers in nature. When evolution has found an advantage to producing thrust in a fluid, it has done it mainly by flapping things back and forth. This new VTOL ...

In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus' wax wings melted when he dared to fly too close to the sun. Now, researchers have made artificial wings that are actually powered by the sun. The tiny wings, which ...