Video: This Bat Bot Looks A Lot Like the Real Thing
Lovely Bird/Shutterstock.com
It won't suck your blood though.
Look out, Batman, there's a new dark knight roaming the skies. Researchers from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Caltech have developed a robot that mimics the movements and flight of a bat.
The robot is lightweight, with a skeleton made of carbon fiber and 3-D printed ball-and-socket joints. A silicone membrane serves as the Bat Bot's skin.
Most importantly, though, the robot's two wings can move independently of one another, allowing for steep dives and sharp turns. This increased range of motion could potentially make the robot useful for wildlife surveillance and search and rescue situations, according to researchers.
To see the Bat Bot in action, check out the video below from CNET: