Robotics Trends

UB Professor Studies the Flight of Hummingbirds To Develop Self-Propelled Surveillance Devices To better understand how a three-dimensional vortex forms, University at Buffalo researchers are conducting experiments using lasers and rectangular flapping “wings” in a water tank. The secret to the flight of the hummingbird and other tiny birds and insects lies in the looping, swirling flow of air, called a vortex, that their flapping wings create. These aerodynamically unconventional flows are the inspiration behind new research by a University at Buffalo scientist who hopes to understand the nature of the three-dimensional vortex formation process so that it can be optimized. The UB research is motivated by the need to gather real-time intelligence in particularly challenging environments; these include remote caves and tunnels or complex building corridors in cities, neither of which can easily be penetrated by conventional,… View this post
Filed in: Academics and Research • Feature • Robotics Features
Tagged: Unmanned aerial vehicles, Unmanned aerual systems, University at buffalo