ornithopter
(from Greek ornithos "bird" and pteron "wing")
An aircraft that flies by flapping its wings.
In 1505 Leonardo da Vinci put together the codex on the flight of birds,
It was a collection of observations about the flight.
It also showed plans for some of the first ornithopters ever conceived.
He built a number of these aircraft and attempted to fly them near Florence without much success.
However In 2005 one of his gliders was successfully built and flown for a television series called Leonardo's dream machines.
2 years later a man from Norway named Peter won a prize During MAV-07 in the south of France for the world's smallest RC ornithopter.
It was called the hummer; it was originally a one channel aircraft but eventually a control system similar to the I-fly vamp was added, giving it yaw control.
With the control system the aircraft weighed a total of 1.1 grams.
It was seen flying for a few seconds on French national TV, the reporters don't say much about it other than one day it might be taking pictures of you in your back yard without you knowing it.
Interactive toy concepts picked up the idea and tried to develop it for release in summer of 2008.
A few videos from the Interactive toy concept booth at the 2008 Consumer electronics show demonstrate the di vinci flying for a few seconds and introduces it to the world.
Around October of 2008 ITC released a promotional video showing the da vinci flying in a small room for a few seconds
However In December of 2008 ITC postponed the release date to February of 2009. Between February and October of 2009 a few finally arrived on shelves for a short period of time selling for about $69.99 They wear very hard to find and didn't stay on shelves long, the price was also really high for a 2 channel aircraft.
But Because of difficulties with production and the economic downturn ITC took the aircraft off of production lines. Now you can pretty much only find them on e bay.
22 окт 2024
