Learning Byte Summary ▾
Learning Objectives (LOs): Explore examples of robotic birds made by engineering scientists
Grade level: Middle school
Duration: ~4 min
Key ideas: Bird-like robots; LisEagle; PercHug

Examples of Bird-like robots

Bird-like robots are designed for various applications and are energy-efficient, agile, and adaptable to various flight conditions and environments. Next, we will explore some examples of robotic birds made by engineering scientists.

LisEagle

LisEagle is a robot inspired by a bird harris hawk. It can change the shape of its wings and tail to adjust to flying conditions, such as when wind speed changes 1 .

LisEagle
LisEagle in free flight.M1
Comparison of Harris' hawk and the avian-inspired LisEagle drone
Harris' hawk vs LisEagle.M2

PercHug

PercHug is another bird-inspired robot that copies how some birds such as owl use their forelimbs to hold onto trees while landing. The comparison below shows a bat, an owl, and the PercHug robot using a similar hugging strategy 2 .

Interesting fact: Do you know bats are the only flying mammals, and their wings are more like modified, stretched, and extended hands, which allows them to be agile fliers?

A bat, an owl, and the PercHug robot each using wings or wing-like structures to hold onto a tree
Bat, owl, and PercHug robot comparison.M3
Reflection
If you were to design a bird-like robot, which bird would you copy and why?

References

  2. 2.
    Crash-perching on vertical poles with a hugging-wing robot
    Mohammad Askari and others · Communications Engineering · 2024 · Vol. 3(1), p. 98

Media Credits

  1. M1
    LisEagle
    Simon Luis Jeger and others · Nature (npj Robotics) · 2024 · CC BY 4.0
  2. M2
    LisEagle and Harris' hawk comparison
    Valentin Wuest and others · Nature Communications · 2024 · CC BY 4.0
  3. M3
    Bat, owl, and PercHug comparison
    Mohammad Askari and others · Nature (Communications Engineering) · 2024 · CC BY 4.0
    (L-R): bat photo by Ondrej Prosicky ; owl photo by Steve Mattheis ; PercHug by Mohammad Askari and others (CC BY 4.0)
How to Cite: Sinha, R. (2026). Examples of Bird-like robots. Amazing Birds. https://amazing-birds.gitlab.io/
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