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Robotic Flying Bird Developed in Japan Looks Just Like the Real Thing

Everybody knows the legend of Icarus, where he tries to escape from Crete using wings his father made from feathers and wax. Humanity has always been literally obsessed with flying like a bird, ever since ancient times. Modern history clearly shows this to be true, as decades before the Wright brother's inaugural flight, some even tried sticking wings on their hands (with Icarus-like results).
Hiroaki Hashimoto's robot bird 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
Nowadays, we take flight for granted. But, of course, we can never built something that flies like a bird. Or can we? If there's one "talent" humanity has in abundance, it's perseverance and it seems somebody has cracked it.

Two years ago, Hiroaki Hashimoto from Japan build a machine that can flap, glide and turn like a bird. It's so good, in fact, that during one of its test flights, the robot attracted the attention of some eagles who wanted to hunt and kill it. The machine looks somewhat like an oversized pidgin and weighs in at 166 grams (just under 0.37 pounds). With a wingspan of 1,430 mm (about 56 inches), it's never going to be part of the flock, but the bird-like movements are incredibly life-like.

It could only come from Japan, a country that actually has giant robot statues in parks and where Toyota and Honda are developing humanoid androids for all sorts of purposes.

A company called Festo Robots built a complicated seagull-like mahine a few years ago, but it had a huge budget. This is what a man built in his garage and for that, we tip our hat to mister Hiroaki Hashimoto.

Well there you go: the most inconspicuous drone ever made comes from Japan. If Skynet ever gets the idea, we're doomed!

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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