{"id":264977,"date":"2024-11-20T22:16:11","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T22:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/20\/robotic-pigeon-reveals-how-birds-fly-without-a-vertical-tail-fin\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:10:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:10:25","slug":"robotic-pigeon-reveals-how-birds-fly-without-a-vertical-tail-fin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/20\/robotic-pigeon-reveals-how-birds-fly-without-a-vertical-tail-fin\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotic pigeon reveals how birds fly without a vertical tail fin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>\n    <iframe title=\"Robotic pigeon reveals how birds fly without a vertical tail fin\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FVliXLEEtag?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n    <\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>A pigeon-inspired robot has solved the mystery of how birds fly without the vertical tail fins that human-designed aircraft rely on. Its makers say the prototype could eventually lead to passenger aircraft with less drag, reducing fuel consumption.<\/p>\n<p>Tail fins, also known as vertical stabilisers, allow aircraft to turn from side to side and help avoid changing direction unintentionally. Some military planes, such as the Northrop B-2 Spirit, are designed without a tail fin because it makes them less visible to radar. Instead, they use flaps that create extra drag on just one side when needed, but this is an inefficient solution.<\/p>\n<p>Birds have no vertical fin and also don\u2019t seem to deliberately create asymmetric drag. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rug.nl\/staff\/d.lentink\/?lang=en\">David Lentink<\/a> at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and colleagues designed PigeonBot II (pictured below) to investigate how birds stay in control without such a stabiliser.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ArticleImage\">\n<div class=\"Image__Wrapper\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" width=\"1350\" height=\"900\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1288px) 837px, (min-width: 1024px) calc(57.5vw + 55px), (min-width: 415px) calc(100vw - 40px), calc(70vw + 74px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=300 300w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=400 400w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=500 500w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=600 600w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=700 700w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=800 800w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=837 837w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=900 900w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1003 1003w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1100 1100w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1300 1300w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1400 1400w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1500 1500w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1600 1600w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1674 1674w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1700 1700w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1800 1800w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=1900 1900w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20124521\/SEI_230190334.jpg?width=2006 2006w\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-image-context=\"Article\" data-image-id=\"2457196\" data-caption=\"PigeonBot II, a robot designed to mimic the flying techniques of birds\" data-credit=\"Eric Chang\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"ArticleImageCaption\">\n<div class=\"ArticleImageCaption__CaptionWrapper\">\n<p class=\"ArticleImageCaption__Title\">PigeonBot II, a robot designed to mimic the flying techniques of birds<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleImageCaption__Credit\">Eric Chang<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>The team\u2019s previous model, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2230401-a-robot-equipped-with-real-pigeon-feathers-flies-like-a-living-bird\/\">built in 2020<\/a>, flew by flapping its wings and changing their shape like a bird, but it still had a traditional aircraft tail. The latest design, which includes 52 real pigeon feathers, has been updated to include a bird-like tail \u2013 and test flights have been successful.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"js-content-prompt-opportunity\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Lentink says the secret to PigeonBot II\u2019s success is in the reflexive tail movements programmed into it, designed to mimic those known to exist in birds. If you hold a pigeon and tilt it from side to side or back and forward, its tail automatically reacts and moves in complex ways, as if to stabilise the animal in flight. This has long been thought to be the key to birds\u2019 stability, but now it has been proven by the robotic replica.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers programmed a computer to control the nine servomotors in Pigeonbot II to steer the craft using propellers on each wing, but also to automatically twist and fan the tail in response, to create the stability that would normally come from a vertical fin. Lentink says these reflexive movements are so complex that no human could directly fly Pigeonbot II. Instead, the operator issues high level commands to an autopilot, telling it to turn left or right, and a computer on board determines the appropriate control signals.<\/p>\n<p>After many unsuccessful tests during which the control systems were refined, it was finally able to take off, cruise and land safely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow we know the recipe of how to fly without a vertical tail. Vertical tails, even for a passenger aircraft, are just a nuisance. It costs weight, which means fuel consumption, but also drag \u2013 it\u2019s just unnecessary drag,\u201d says Lentink. \u201cIf you just copy our solution [for a large scale aircraft] it will work, for sure. [But] if you want to translate this into something that\u2019s a little bit easier to manufacture, then there needs to be an additional layer of research.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"ArticleTopics\">\n<p class=\"ArticleTopics__Heading\">Topics:<\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2456661-robotic-pigeon-reveals-how-birds-fly-without-a-vertical-tail-fin\/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&#038;utm_source=NSNS&#038;utm_medium=RSS&#038;utm_content=home\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] A pigeon-inspired robot has solved the mystery of how birds fly without the vertical tail fins that human-designed aircraft rely on. Its makers say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":264978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}