Meet ‘PigeonBot’, the drone taking scientists one step closer to the dream of feathered flight

Since the dawn of the aviation era, inventors have strived to build aircraft that fly as nimbly as birds, whose morphable wings allow for faster, tighter turns and more efficient gliding.

That dream was a step closer to reality Thursday after researchers at Stanford University announced they had studied the wings of common pigeon cadavers, then used their findings to build a radio-controlled “PigeonBot” with wings made with 40 real feathers.

“Aerospace and materials engineers can [now] start rethinking how they can design, manufacture and control materials and wings that morph as deftly as birds do,” said David Lentink, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford and the senior author of two papers describing the results in the journals Science and Science Robotics.

All four-limbed animals, including dinosaurs, evolved from an ancestor that had five digits at the end of its limbs, which became hands, paws, flippers, or wings over time.

Modern birds retained three digits, or fingers. By studying the pigeon wings in a wind tunnel, the researchers found that wrist and finger action provided fine control over feather placement, wing span, and area.