A drone inspired by nature.

French aeronautical engineer Edwin Van Ruymbeke presented the Swift, a robot inspired by swifts that flies exactly like a real bird. Unlike traditional drones, Swift does not depend on exposed propellers, its flight is based on a flapping wing mechanism that reproduces the aerodynamic dynamics used by birds.

The most interesting detail is in the control of behavior in flight. While conventional ornithopters usually require high speeds to remain stable, the Switch introduces a simple and ingenious solution, two interchangeable tails, with the speed tail, the robot can reach speeds of up to 31 km/h, simulating fast speeds in open areas and with the precision tail it decelerates drastically, maintaining stability at very low speeds, allowing flight even in indoor environments.

This adjustment makes the robots much more versatile than a simple technological toy, the system receives corrections in real time through inertial sensors, helping to stabilize the flight and reducing the impact of collisions and since the body is built with resistant foam, carbon fiber and titanium, the objective is for it to survive common accidents without major damage.

Weighing just over 10 g, the Swift currently offers only 10 minutes of autonomy per charge and can be controlled by smartphone, bringing biomimetic flight closer to the common public.

Observing machines trying to reproduce the efficiency of nature reveals a larger trend, technology does not simply seek to replace humans, it wants to reorganize entire systems around automation.