Bat wing-like membranes that change their shape in response to the prevailing wind conditions have been tested in-flight, taking them a step closer to use in Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). The membranes ...

They can climb onto other animals to drink their blood, pluck insects from leaves or hover to drink nectar from tropical flowers, all of which require distinctive wing designs.

Graduate student Joseph Bahlman built a 3-D printed robotic bat wing based on the lesser dog-faced fruit bat, and tested it last year. This wing included an elastic membrane stretched over plastic ...

For example, Bahlman told NBC News he wanted to compare a stretchy membrane like a live bat wing with a non-stretchy material. He suspects the stretchy skin of bat wings enhances flight performance.

A new 3-D printed robotic bat wing can emulate the flapping motion of a real bat, helping biologists simulate how the mammals fly and helping aerodynamics researchers study new flapping-wing aircraft.

But the new wing is unique because of its ability to actively fold and expand just like a real bat wing, Bahlman said. The work was conducted in the labs of Kenneth Breuer ’82 P’14 P’16, professor of ...

Bat-inspired vehicles like Batman's supersonic Batwing have always been the stuff of comic books, but now British scientists may have found the real thing in a prototype drone. Researchers have ...