Watch this robotic chook use a talon-like claw to land safely on a perch

A talon-like claw with sharp ends and a softer center helps this flying robotic grasp onto skinny perches similar to a chook

By Alex Wilkins

This bird-like robotic has a claw that it might use to perch on branches it has flown to. It might probably be helpful for amassing samples in hard-to-reach locations or silently observing animals of their pure habitat.

Touchdown and perching on a department is simple for many birds, however it is extremely tough for robots that fly like birds due to their bigger dimension and the complexity of touchdown on a skinny object.

Now, Raphael Zufferey on the Swiss Federal Institute of Know-how in Lausanne and his colleagues have developed a robotic chook – which has a 1.5-metre wingspan …