October 22, 2014Bionic bird can be flown with your smartphone

An extremely lightweight, smartphone-controlled bionic bird could fly for over a mile on a 12-minute charge

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A French startup has turned to crowdfunding to build an extremely light bionic bird that can be controlled using the magnetometer and accelerometer in a smartphone. The bird, currently at the prototype stage, would communicate via Bluetooth for a range of 100 meters (330 ft) and be able to fly for up to eight minutes at a time, or over a mile, after a quick 12-minute charge.

The company has experience building similar radio-controlled toys, but two interesting new features that would come with the (appropriately named) Bionic Bird are the addition of a portable, egg-shaped charger that can store enough juice for ten full charges, and the ability to control the bird in an intuitive and agile way simply by tilting your phone in the desired direction and using touch controls to regulate speed.

The 800 mAh portable charger can be refueled via a USB port in about an hour and doubles as a pedestal for the bird to sit on. The bird itself has an onboard 50 mAh hybrid lithium polymer battery that can power this ultra-light 9.2 g (0.32 oz) toy for a six-minute flight at full speed, with its wings flapping 18 times a second, or for around eight minutes on a typical flight with a distance of 1.8 km (just over a mile). The tail angle can be adjusted for either slow or fast flights, so you can also attempt to fly it indoors.

A free iPhone and iPad mini app can be downloaded to control the bird and comes with two control modes: both use touch control for the throttle, but the "easy mode" uses the phone's accelerometer to steer the bird, while the "hard mode" uses touch controls for the steering as well. The inventors say that an Android version of the app will hit the Google Play store in February 2015, and will work as long as your device is Bluetooth 4 compatible.

According to the company, a pair of replacement wings is also included. This is bound to come in helpful should you accidentally run your bird into a wall, crash it into the ground or get clawed by a raptor. The creators say that the body of the bird is made out of a sturdy foam and can easily tolerate impacts at full speed (no word on hawk attacks, though).

You can pledge US$100 for a bird on Indiegogo. If all goes to plan, the company says will be delivered by Christmas this year, with free delivery to the European Union, the USA, Canada and Japan. Other countries will need to add a $20 charge.

Stretch goals include a way to dynamically control the angle of the tail for slower flight, stationary flight capabilities, and even an HD camera for live video feed back to your smartphone, complete with mechanical and hydraulic stabilization, where the commands will be "linked to natural and intuitive gestures from a connected wrist band."

You can check out the promotional video for the Bionic Bird below.

Sources: Bionic Bird, Indiegogo

用手机就能遥控的仿生鸟

10月22日，2014Bionic鸟可以与您的smartphone飞行

重量极轻，智能手机控制的仿生鸟能够为飞行超过一英里的一个12分钟的充电

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一位法国的启动已经转向集资兴建，可以使用智能手机的磁力计和加速计控制极轻的仿生鸟。鸟，目前在原型阶段，将通过蓝牙通讯的射程为100米（330英尺），并能飞多达八个分钟的时间，或超过一英里，经过快速的12分钟收费。

公司拥有经验建立类似的无线电遥控玩具，但有两个有趣的新功能，会来的（适当命名的）仿生鸟是增加了一个可移植的，蛋形的充电器，可以存储足够汁十足的费用，而仅仅通过倾斜手机在所需方向，并采用触摸控制来调节速度控制在一个直观和灵活的方式鸟的能力。

800毫安的便携式充电器，可以通过USB端口在大约加油一个小时，兼作基座的鸟坐。这种鸟本身具有板载50毫安时混合动力车用锂聚合物电池，可供电这种超轻9.2克（0.32盎司）玩具全速六分钟的飞行，它的翅膀拍打18次，第二次，或左右8分钟在一个典型的飞行1.8公里（刚刚超过一英里）的距离。尾角可针对慢或快的航班进行调整，所以你也可以尝试飞在室内

一个免费的iPhone和iPad的迷你应用程序可以下载到防控禽流并配有两种控制模式：既采用触摸控制油门，但“简易模式”使用手机的加速度计来引导鸟，而“困难模式”采用触摸控制的方向盘也是如此。发明者说，应用程序的Andr??oid版本将达到谷歌Play商店在2015年二月，只要将作为你的设备是蓝牙4.0兼容

据该公司介绍，还包括一对更换的翅膀。这势必进来很有帮助，如果你不小心运行你的鸟在墙上，它坠毁到地面或得到由猛禽爪。创作者说，鸟的身体是做出来一个坚固的泡沫，很容易容忍全速（上鹰的攻击没有字，虽然）的影响.

您可以质押US $ 100的Indiegogo鸟。如果一切按计划进行，该公司表示将在今年圣诞节交付，免费送货到欧盟，美国，加拿大和日本。其他国家将需要增加$ 20的费用。

弹力的目标包括了一种动态控制尾部的角度较慢的飞行，平稳飞行的能力，甚至是高清摄像头的实时视频反馈至智能手机，完整的机械和液压稳定，其中，命令将被“从相连的手腕带连接到自然，直观的手势”

您可以检查出的宣传影片仿生鸟低于

来源：仿生鸟，Indiegogo