It flies like a real pigeon.

Birds can change the shape of their wings, holding the feathers to each other, or Vice versa, respusha them. This allows for feathered creatures confidently and skillfully maneuver in the air. It is this feature used by scientists from Stanford University to create a robotic dove, whose wings can change shape, like the real birds, writes National Geographic.

“This study will create the conditions for designing a more flexible aircraft. With bird-like wings robots could be doing more tight turns in cluttered spaces, such as around buildings or in the woods,” – Dario Floreano, robotics from the French Polytechnic School in Lausanne.

The creators PigeonBot based its work on the anatomy of these pigeons. They bent and spread their wings of dead birds to find out how birds control their shape. Based on these results, the team created the robot with real pigeon feathers — artificial wrist and fingers can change the shape of the wing.

The study also revealed that the microstructure of feathers ensures their engagement with each other, allowing you to turn the wing into a single surface.

The study’s lead author engineer and biologist from Stanford, David Lentink said that in the future the team plans to create a robot that uses the principles of biomechanics of flight of the Falcon. This device, in addition to the wings with feathers will be equipped with legs, and maybe beak.