I made a Bird Drone! This is my Friend's First Flight! WIP
This is my first prototype for a bird drone I'm making, inspired by the LisEagle.
Takeoff @ 1:25
It has 10 controls to fly it (so far): wing pronation, wing supination, wing fold/expand, tail pitch/roll/yaw + tail fold/expand. Each wing can be operated independently, though I didn't add individual folding/expanding for this version.
CAW CAW!
Edit: the features I'm planning on adding:
WINGS - A fully articulate anatomically-correct Wing capable of flapping. The most complicated part of this would be the shoulder joint because it would need to move in three planes of rotation similar to an actual Bird shoulder. This would let me fly like an ornithopter hopefully, to be seen
Legs. It's been shown through The Raven Drone that legs allow for quicker takeoff, landings, and ground traversal. They'll be springy and sticky.
Cruise control. I want it to be able to keep itself stable during flight and automatically adjust itself to stay level when coming out of a banked turn.
A better control scheme. I need each limb and joint to be able to move independently and in multiple different degrees of rotation to achieve true wing-like movement. Also, the ability for Full manual control in combination with sequenced events like automatic landing, takeoff, or "cruise flapping" Better logic Is going to help here
Survival friendly power. Currently it's powered by two creative engines on the main body. This was intentional such that in the future it can be modified to house survival engines. Through each swivel bearing it Is configured such that constant rotation Is provided throughout the each entire limb. (Observe the tail shenanigans. ). Rotation throughout the limb allows me to control the movement without the need for separate motors on each joint, thus allowing me to keep power centralized on the main body. The need for rotation to be kept through a swivel bearing as well as the swivel bearing having its own movement is what makes the joint so bulky. Each swivel bearing must be spaced for rotation to be pulled through the limb. But this gives it a very nice geared look lol, happy accidents :P
FOR THE FLOCK🦅🦅