Robot Sea Gull Tricks Read Birds

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 | by Pat's Picks

It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s a mechanical sea gull. A German firm debut it’s latest invention—a robotic seagull—at the TEDGlobal conference in Scotland this year. The company said it’s goal was to “mimic nature” and by that metric, they succeeded. During a test run the robot bird appeared so lifelike a group of flesh-and-blood sea gulls swooped in and joined it in flight. Check it out:

The company’s fact sheet on the SmartBird, which weighs less than a pound and has a 6 1/2-foot wingspan.