SOCORRO, N.M. — We all know cats have nine lives... but what about birds? A team of researchers at New Mexico Tech is creating a flock of drones using deceased birds - and it's raising privacy concerns.
The birds have been preserved through taxidermy. To make them as real as possible, the research team calculated the flapping frequency, angle, and weight of the birds while they were still alive.
"They have their tail, their wings, their head, the body - everything is there," explained mechanical engineering professor Dr. Mostafa Hassanalian.
The mechanical birds are not yet ready to try to blend in with a real flock, so researchers are running tests inside a drone cage. They say this can help them better understand that flight patterns and the formation of migratory birds.
The studies could eventually be used to help improve the aviation industry.
"If we learn how these birds manage the energy between themselves, we can apply them into the aviation industry to save more energy and fuel," said Hassanalian.
Researchers also believe a bird's color has more of a purpose beyond camouflaging and attracting mates.
"We've done experiments and determined that for fixed-wing aircraft, applying certain color can change the flight efficiency," said student Brenden Herkenhoff.
The experiment is, however, raising privacy issues. Some advocated say the dressed-up, deceased birds could be used by the military or police to spy on people.
Researchers say they will continue to study and develop the bird drones for the next few years. The current models can fly for a maximum of 20 minutes at a time.