By Vaibhav Agrawal
Billions of dollars in aircraft damage are caused due to collisions between aircraft and wildlife that stand as a common occurrence and put innumerable human lives at risk.
The Grand Forks and Edmonton international airports in North Dakota have come up with a highly innovative solution for the same.
This particular device flies like a plane but looks like a bird, or in simple terms, it’s a bird that’s a plane. “Robird” comes in as a robotic device that, in this case, closely resembles a Peregrine falcon and looks very real to its real-life counterpart.
Such devices are robotic birds closely resembling the real birds’ in-flight behaviour and appearance. Like any other bird, these devices fly by beating their wings, have speed and wing frequencies and can soar.
In this case, the Peregrine “Robird” soars near the runway at Grand Forks and Edmonton to deter real birds from interfering with air traffic.
A Robird can fly as swiftly as a falcon by flapping its wing and achieve speeds up to 27 miles per hour.
Due to seasonal changes in the migratory pattern, bird strikes are dictated, which increases the risk of bird strikes since more aircraft take to the skies.
A multi-disciplined drone solutions company based in Calgary, Alberta, Aerium Analytics, is the one to produce this specific novel drone, an ornithopter, which imitates the actions and look of a predatory bird.
Since its inception back in 2016, what began as using drones for mining, logistics, energy and forestry, the company now focuses on harnessing the power of aerial data for environmental good.
