SmartBird is an ultralight but powerful flight model with excellent aerodynamic qualities and extreme agility. With SmartBird, Festo has succeeded in deciphering the flight of birds - one of the oldest dreams of humankind.This bionic technology-bearer, which is inspired by the herring gull, can start, fly and land autonomously -- with no additional drive mechanism. Its wings not only beat up and down, but also twist at specific angles. This is made possible by an active articulated torsional drive unit, which in combination with a complex control system attains an unprecedented level of efficiency in flight operation. Festo has thus succeeded for the first time in creating an energy-efficient technical adaptation of this model from nature.
It also makes me wonder whether the ornicopter approach might not even be useful for re-entry vehicles, for controlled landing purposes, and even in lieu of drag chutes to slow re-entry. It's easier to flap in the thinner, higher upper atmosphere, but I wonder how well flapping works in an oncoming supersonic flowstream? Can anyone hazard a guess?
A clever trick is to then use oscillating winch propulsion ...
Also, I always thought it was an ornithopter.
Ornithopter is a machine that functions just like a bird, flapping its wings to achieve forward motion. Ornicopter is when you take that flapping concept, and do it in a circular rotational pattern, like a helicopter.
With rotors in general, obviously the larger the rotor disc area, the more lift. ... Clearly those loads diminish as the rotor disc size/diameter decreases.