Let's fly like a bird

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

How cool is this?

http://www.flixxy.com/airplane-flies-like-a-bird.htm

~~ Paul

[quarky]

Its very cool. Yet, there has been a cheap, wind-up toy bird that flaps and flies. Its been around for decades. An awesome toy, which, I'm surprised, seems to have been ignored in this supposed breakthrough flight. They cost about $20, and are purely mechanical.

[rwguinn]

Nothing new, here.
http://www.ornithopter.org/history.electric.shtml

[Shadow the Poodle]

Its very cool. Yet, there has been a cheap, wind-up toy bird that flaps and flies. Its been around for decades. An awesome toy, which, I'm surprised, seems to have been ignored in this supposed breakthrough flight. They cost about $20, and are purely mechanical.

There are some who call me........ Tim

http://www.amazon.com/Tim-Bird-Windup-Flying/dp/B0039ZHZBK

[quarky]

There are some who call me........ Tim

http://www.amazon.com/Tim-Bird-Windup-Flying/dp/B0039ZHZBK

cool. $12.95!

I think that's what i paid 30 years ago.

[RossFW]

Actually, I think it's more like a robot bird that flies like a bird...

[Soapy Sam]

I wonder how many of the audience expected to be pooped on?

[kleinjahr]

A very nice piece of engineering, found it at TED. There have been mechanical versions around for some time. I've an old design, round here somewhere, dates back to the early 1900s at least.
Check this out for some history of flight,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cayley.