MAKERFAIRE K.C.: amazing WASP WINGS

first off let me say that the Redbull contest has consumed all of my time and I haven’t been able to get these Makerfaire coverage messages out as rapidly as I’d hoped. Please be patient, there are several much more to come I promise.

As I was walking around, I glanced up and saw a really amazing set of wasp wings on a mannequin flapping away. The motion was quite nice, but I was really blown away when they folded down to a different position when not in use. I managed to track down the developer at the even and asked him some questions.

[Jordy] was commissioned to build these as part of a costume. He started by just googling ornithopter designs and ended up coming up with a rather good contraption. numerous of the bits are 3d printed specifically to his needs, including the drive gears. This should have saved tons of time and effort. As you can see in the video after the break, the motion is really good and the fact that they fold down is really cool.

looks like makerbot got some good footage!

When I asked him what difficulties he had run into, I could tell there had been several. One example is that the night before the event, the servo which automatically raises and lowers the wings failed to do its job. He rapidly rigged up a strap that allows him to manually pull them into position. I discovered he also had a flex sensor on his finger for manually making the wings flap, though it appeared to be disabled. I’d have to say that [Jordy] did an remarkable job and I can’t wait to see what will come out of even more revisions of the design.