Video: Festo's Smartbird robot featured at TED conference

(PhysOrg.com) -- Robotics company, Festo, showed off the near four-month old creation, Smartbird robot, at the 2011 TEDGlobal Conference in Edinburgh.

Markus Fischer, a Smartbird project leader, unveiled live demonstrations along with a brief talk about the robotic seagull.

With the help of an on board motor, Smartbird, modeled after the herring gull, can flap its wings and fly.

From a company whose inventions also include a pair of robotic penguins and an elephant’s trunk, Festo’s Smartbird really soars.