Pretty fun stuff to watch (Score 2, Insightful)

I went the UofT aerospace institute, and occasionally would lead tours through the various labs. That one was always the most popular. They'd fire up one of the micro air vehicles (restrained on a metal rod), turn off the lights and put a strobe light on it, so it 'froze' the motion. It's pretty cool to see what is happening with clap and peel they talked about in the article. It was hard work for the grad students on the project, though. They would have to make the little carbon fibre ribs and glue the little bastards to the mylar. Over and over. They must have been high as a kite half the time! Excuse the expression. That group is also working on full-scale ornithopter (pilot only). Totally different approach from the MAV, over course. This one looked like an airplane instead of a butterfly. The footage of the taxi testruns was impressive...and scary. 40' (IIRC) wings flapping at a few Hz. I'm not sure if they have it off the ground yet, funding is pretty tight for the big version.