Article: Oh, for the wings of an insect.

A CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY team is developing flapping wings powered by piezoelectric motors for future military surveillance micro-planes.

Piezoelectric-controlled wings could better mimic an insect's complex wing motion - the holy grail of flapping-wing flight researchers. Piezoelectric crystals change shape by a small amount when a voltage is applied.

The team claimed that the military is likely to be interested in the results of the project because highly manoeuvrable micro-air vehicles (MAVs) could one day be used for surveillance using flapping-wing propulsion. The US has invested heavily in flapping-wing technology in the past decade, and MoD ...

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