eLife & Nature: How birds find grip to land
Our recent research on the strategies birds use to land and perch on
complex surfaces got published in eLife and featured in a
Nature News & Views article The research by Will Roderick and Diana Chin shows how birds
approach complex perches stereotypically and adapt their foot-surface
interactions upon contact by feeling them out. To find grip, birds squeeze
harder to grasp surfaces less, trading-off reliable toepad friction with
stochastic latching onto asperities with their curling claws. Remarkably, the
birds preshape their feet right before contact when landing becomes imminent,
and their claws slip superfast within milliseconds to secure asperities to
latch on to on slippery surfaces. The research forms inspiration for aerial
robots, which are currently confined to landing on a few well-defined flat landing
surfaces, while birds can land anywhere.
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