This is not a real butterfly…

Fun & Games Robotics Science
This is not a real butterfly…
chouchou-butterfly-tenyo.jpg

…but non-lepidopterists will probably be hard-pressed to figure that out just by looking at it. The video rates high on the jaw-dropping scale. The ChouChou electric butterfly is, in fact, a lepidoteroid robot, of sorts, from Japanese firm Tenyo Magic. It perches, flexes and flaps its wings, and flutters around its jar when disturbed. Preorderable now from JapanTrends.com. [via NOTCOT]

2 thoughts on “This is not a real butterfly…

  1. Solarbotics says:

    Looks like it’s using a transparent tube off the bottom of the butterfly that hits bottom and coils back up to the top. I think they’re using a wire-in-tube to power the wings from a motor mounted on the underside of the lid.

    THAT’s really realistic… WANT (to try building) ONE.

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I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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