Have you ever dreamed of flapping your wings and than taking off in flight? While many of us have had dreams about stuff like this, Dutch engineer Jarno Smeets
takes things to the next level and actually does it. That’s right, he actually managed to flap his engineered wings and fly.

Smeets developed the wings over an eight-month period using a special motion mechanism built around an Android phone and Nintendo Wii controllers. The heart of it all is an Android smartphone which processes Jarno’s arm acceleration and computes the corresponding motor output. The phone is connected to a Seeduino ADK microcontroller, which connects to two Wii Motion Plus and a Wii Nunchuck. These are used to measure the acceleration, motion and all the different parameters required for making the calculations needed for the wing flapping.

Taking notes from nature, this design was inspired by the albatross:

Just like birds, humans have to amplify their locomotion to get control and get familiar with their new body expansion—the Wings. In my conception this is something which is independent of any hardware of software problem.

So he payed attention and learned how to amplify his moves, resulting in a successful test flight that took him over a distance of 328 feet. The lightweight wings are simple and strong enough to lift Jarno’s body weight.

The wings are relatively simple, they are lightweight and large enough to sustain his body when enough lift is achieved. It’s the flapping mechanism and the haptic controlling system that makes the whole thing work.

“I have always dreamed about this. But after eight months of hard work, research and testing it all payed off,” Jarno declared ecstatically. While this might not be that sustainable and seems quite tiring, it is still nothing short of amazing. Just the idea of taking off, flapping your wings, and flying is very impressive to say the least.

[ source via Human Bird Wings ]