Crazy German bird drone – AERO 2017 Friedrichshafen

As I have announced earlier, I visited the Aero 2017 in Friedrichshafen, Germany. It is an exhibition about all aspects of general aviation. UAVs were also an essential part of it and before I start showing you all the beautiful planes and helicopters, I have to share this video of, well, a crazy German bird drone! This piece of technology was the first thing I saw at the exhibition in Friedrichshafen and I have to say it is jaw-dropping. Look:

The bionic drone is made by a German company called Festo from Esslingen. Festo is a global leader in control and automation. This bionic bird, called “SmartBird” is what Festo created together with a network of universities, research insitutions and other companies. To make that possible, they actually decrypted the way seagulls fly and transferred the idea to a body made of polyurethane foam and carbon fiber.

You can find more about this on their website: https://www.festo.com/group/de/cms/10238.htm

Festo is not listed, it’s a “Kommanditgesellschaft”

What makes me unhappy however, is the fact that Festo is not a listed corporation, but rather a “Kommanditgesellschaft”, so I can’t invest in it directly.

But, well, you can’t have all. Anyway I find this an incredible piece of engineering and coding, that I really wanted to share this with all of you.