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Rutgers Engineers Create Motorless Bird-Mimicking Drone

3/26/2026

Summary

Story summary

Rutgers University engineers are developing a solid-state ornithopter that mimics bird flight without motors.
The drone uses piezoelectric materials that change shape with voltage, enabling wing flapping and twisting.
The design, led by Onur Bilgen at Rutgers University, combines carbon-fiber and Macro Fiber Composites (MFCs) to create a mechanism-free system.
The concept has been shown in simulations and the study appears in Aerospace Science and Technology.

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Story summary

Rutgers University engineers are developing a solid-state ornithopter that mimics bird flight without motors.
The drone uses piezoelectric materials that change shape with voltage, enabling wing flapping and twisting.
The design, led by Onur Bilgen at Rutgers University, combines carbon-fiber and Macro Fiber Composites (MFCs) to create a mechanism-free system.
The concept has been shown in simulations and the study appears in Aerospace Science and Technology.