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The geniuses at Festo's Bionic Learning Network are well known for their fascination with robotic animals, and their latest creation is no exception. Dubbed the SmartBird, this autonomous bionic bird -- modelled on herring gulls -- graces the sky with its sophisticated two meter-long wings, which utilize a bending torso for lifelike directional control. What's more, this robot is also capable of taking off and landing on its own, but it can also be controlled and monitored from afar using ZigBee radio. Amazingly, all of this round up to just one pound, meaning the SmartBird can happily float about with moderate flapping. Jump past the break for some agile in-flight action, accompanied by an animation detailing the inner workings. Plenty of robots can fly -- but none can fly like a real bird. That is, until Markus Fischer and his team at Festo built SmartBird, a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull, that flies by flapping its wings "Festo, w

Andrew and Frits are looking at a big question in life: "Why build a robot?" And they have at least one fun reason: Solve a challenge. Also in this show, is featured music made with aid of the Yellow Drum Machine, a robot that you can learn how to make in Make Magazine volume 27, scheduled to hit the stands on July 26th. 1. Place Blue Portal on the second table 2. Place Orange Portal underneath the box, robot, whatever is 12x12 inch big 3. ??? 4. Profit!!

Multicopters is an exciting new area of hobby robotics. They are also sometimes known as UAV's, and essentially they are "flying hobby robots". They are made with a center that holds micro controllers, sensors, receivers, transmitters, power and payload. Pointing out from the center are a number of pins holding motors and propellers. This is the first episode looking at Multicopters, and Frits has a very advanced Hexacopter in the air. Later episodes will look at products you can buy, and some cool cheap and less complex alternatives new on the market will be demonstrated.