“Zombie drones” made of stuffed birds are a fact
Embalming birds in the service of building sophisticated drones
Embalming birds now serves the purpose of making sophisticated spy drones. A team of scientists has managed to create a new type of drone from the carcasses of dead birds, which they say can be used to track other animals or even people.
It’s a new technology unveiled at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ SciTech Forum 2023, and its presentation featured taxidermy drones called “ornithopters.”
These drones have a pair of wings and mechanical propellers that are meant to mimic the way a real bird flies. The researchers note that they originally intended to use synthetic material for the drones, but later decided to choose dead birds to make the drones look more realistic.
According to the study, engineers applied 3D flutter and aerodynamic simulators to test how the drones would fly in the wind . The researchers found that simulating the flight of a bird with a drone was quite difficult, as they did not look like real natural birds.
However, from the tests, the engineers were able to identify aspects of the drone that they could improve to make it fly more realistically. Then they changed the design to make the drone quieter, fly longer and have the ability to be more maneuverable during flight.
The team behind the study found that there is great benefit in studying taxidermy and drone flight at the same time, as it will unlock more knowledge about possible drone models that can lead to more natural flight capabilities. In particular, the team said that a final improvement would be to add legs to the embalming drone so that it can sit up high and monitor its surroundings without using a lot of battery.
As you can already imagine, taxidermy drones could be used for many different purposes. An example would be tracking wildlife without disturbing the targets.
They could also fly into locations that are difficult for humans to access and observe targets within said location without disturbing them.
They could just as easily be used in military and intelligence gathering operations, tracking areas, individuals, and more.
