Uploaded March 2013 | Updated September 2026, 13 hours ago
Researchers studied flying bats to make robotic wings.
Bats have very different wings than flying insects and birds, and their wings are correspondingly more structurally complex. Their wings have up to 25 actively controlled joints and 34 degrees of freedom. By comparison, the human arm is said to have 7 degrees of freedom. Bats use their elbows and wrists in flight, in combination with a shoulder equipped with tons of muscles for three dimensional rotation. They also use their hindlimbs, back feet and fingers to control the overall shape of the wing and the angle of flight. Bats' wing membranes are able to stretch and recoil with changes in wing fold, and the skin of the membranes are attached all along the side of the bat’s body from neck to ankle. The membrane skin that stretches between their adapted digits is much thinner than the skin of similarly small non-flying mammals, and bats put that skin to the test across a much larger range of expansion and contraction than most mammals put their skin through. This skin flexibility allows bats to vary their motions in flight and to use the skin like a parachute to passively capture air during flight.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/robotic-wing-reveals-secrets-of-bat-flight
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Video courtesy Kenny Breuer and Sharon Swartz, Brown University
Music courtesy Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com/music/royalty-free
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Researchers studied flying bats to make robotic wings.
Bats have very different wings than flying insects and birds, and their wings are correspondingly more structurally complex. Their wings have up to 25 actively controlled joints and 34 degrees of freedom. By comparison, the human arm is said to have 7 degrees of freedom. Bats use their elbows and wrists in flight, in combination with a shoulder equipped with tons of muscles for three dimensional rotation. They also use their hindlimbs, back feet and fingers to control the overall shape of the wing and the angle of flight. Bats' wing membranes are able to stretch and recoil with changes in wing fold, and the skin of the membranes are attached all along the side of the bat’s body from neck to ankle. The membrane skin that stretches between their adapted digits is much thinner than the skin of similarly small non-flying mammals, and bats put that skin to the test across a much larger range of expansion and contraction than most mammals put their skin through. This skin flexibility allows bats to vary their motions in flight and to use the skin like a parachute to passively capture air during flight.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/robotic-wing-reveals-secrets-of-bat-flight
—
Video courtesy Kenny Breuer and Sharon Swartz, Brown University
Music courtesy Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com/music/royalty-free
—
ABOUT DISCOVER:
Discover is your source for science that matters, makes sense and is a lot of fun, too.
Visit us at: discovermagazine.com
FOLLOW US:
Facebook: facebook.com/DiscoverMag
Twitter: twitter.com/DiscoverMag
Instagram: instagram.com/discover.magazine
SUPPORT US:
Subscribe to Discover: bit.ly/34seAFT
Sign up for our newsletter: discovermagazine.com/newsletter-signup
My Science Shop: myscienceshop.com
STAY CURIOUS!
