Robotics researchers regularly turn to the natural world for inspiration, and those working on machines that fly are no different. An international team of scientists has taken this approach to ...

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.

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 ...

Small migrating birds save energy as they fly. Large birds, such as storks, save energy on the flight to their wintering grounds by soaring through the air on thermal currents. Until now, however, we ...

Imagine insect-like aircraft capable of military or civilian surveillance missions, impossible for current fixed-wing or rotary-wing vehicles – tiny flying machines able to access buildings reduced to ...

The world's first successful flight of a self-powered, rudderless, flapping aircraft has been achieved by engineers from AeroVironment. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ...

A new study into the flight characteristics of condors — the largest soaring birds on Earth — finds that they rarely flap their wings once airborne. Condors are capable of flying for over a hundred ...