~ Decoding nature ~

Graduate student Eirik Ravnan works with a parrotlet that he is training to fly from perch to perch in order to be filmed by a high-speed camera. (Photo: L.A. Cicero)

We might have advanced in many domains, but we still have a lot to explored & learn from the natural world. For me, nature has been the inspiring architect for the design and creation of so many animate objects with varied features & functionalities. The adaptation of each being to their respective environment and the subsequent evolution to the changing factors is just fascinating to observe.

A study undertaken by the Standford Mechanical Engineering is just one such step. Many people across the world have been keenly observing the natural order to innovate in the nano technology & the bi-robotics sphere.

"The best way to prevent a small drone from spying on you in your office is to turn on the air-conditioning," said David Lentink, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford. That little blast of air, he explained, creates enough turbulence to knock a hand-size UAV off balance, and possibly send it crashing to the floor.

A pigeon, on the other hand, can swoop down busy city streets, navigate around pedestrians, sign posts and other birds, keep its path in all sorts of windy conditions, and deftly land on the tiniest of hard-to-reach perches.

"Wouldn't it be remarkable if a robot could do that?" Lentink wondered.

Via Stanford.edu