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Taxidermy Birds as Platform for Flapping Wing Drones: A Bioinspired Mechanism for Wildlife Monito...
This paper looks into the use of taxidermy birds on flapping wing drones so that wildlife monitoring will be more seamless and natural. By using 3D flapping and aerodynamic simulators, limits of aerodynamic flapping characteristics could be set for the drone for a specific set of wings. This allowed the implementation of flapping mechanisms and testing of the aerodynamics of the flapping wing drone. It is discovered that although it is difficult to create such a drone, it is very practical for research purposes and can keep nature undisturbed. Improvements on the flapping wing drone would be to make the overall drone look more natural. Spur gears can be changed to helical gears so there is reduced noise and an increase in longevity. Bendable wrists would help in making the wings more flexible in flight. Adding different flight options to the drone could yield an easier user experience and aid in a more natural flight. A final improvement would be to add legs so that the drone can perch and monitor without using much battery.
