The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements so surprising that they make people LAUGH, then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.

Self-takeoff ornithopter

Videos: takeoff flight mechanism

Da Vinci Inspiration: Leonardo Da Vinci mockup

RoboFalcon 2.0:

​Bio-inspired Actuation: The robot is inspired by the specialized wing movements of flying vertebrates during slow-speed maneuvers like takeoff and hovering. It uses a "flap-sweep-fold" (FSF) motion, which couples the flapping of the wings with sweeping (moving them forward and backward) and folding. This multi-axis motion allows it to generate the necessary lift and control for a bird-style, vertical takeoff.

​Reconfigurable Mechanisms: To achieve the complex FSF motion, RoboFalcon 2.0 is equipped with innovative reconfigurable mechanisms. This allows it to alter its wing kinematics mid-flight, a crucial feature for transitioning from takeoff to forward flight.

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Mimics Vertebrate Kinematics: Unlike many earlier ornithopters that relied on simpler, single-degree-of-freedom flapping, RoboFalcon 2.0's design more closely mimics the way a real bird's wings move. This includes mimicking the wrist supination and pronation effect, which is the twisting of the wing to adjust for lift and thrust.