An international team of engineers have produced a drone prototype that adopts characteristics of one of the fastest birds in the world. 

The common swift can travel at speeds of up to 70mph and in the essence of biologically inspired flight, a research team from China, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia have designed a ‘flapping wing drone’. This is otherwise known as an ornithopter, with this particular prototype weighing the equivalent of just two tablespoons of flour (16 grams).   

According to Science Daily, the flapping wing drone has been optimised to fly in cluttered environments near humans, with the ability to glide, hover at very low power, and stop quickly from fast speeds. In contrast to a more popular style of drone such as the quadcopter, the ornithopter is quieter, safer and offers a higher level of versatility.  

“The light weight and the slow beating wings of the ornithopter poses less danger to the public than quadcopter drones in the event of a crash and given sufficient thrust and power banks it could be modified to carry different payloads depending on what is required,” said Dr Yao-Wei Chin who is the project lead and a research scientist at the National University of Singapore.

Dr. Chin’s team stated that the drone could be used for information gathering, crowd and traffic monitoring, surveying forests and even chasing birds away from airports. With no current ornithopters currently being used for surveillance, the researchers believe that this breakthrough could change that.