Watch this robot bird use a talon-like claw to land safely on a perch

A talon-like claw with sharp ends and a softer middle helps this flying robot grasp onto thin perches just like a bird

By Alex Wilkins

This bird-like robot has a claw that it could use to perch on branches it has flown to. It could potentially be useful for collecting samples in hard-to-reach places or silently observing animals in their natural habitat.

Landing and perching on a branch is easy for most birds, but it is very difficult for robots that fly like birds because of their larger size and the complexity of landing on a thin object.

Now, Raphael Zufferey at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and his colleagues have developed a robotic bird – which has a 1.5-metre wingspan …