Large Ornithopter Drive

This is a functional, mostly 3D printable, rigid wing ornithopter propulsion system intended for 3-6kg radio controlled aircraft. (the mechanism itself weighs 1.5kgs with the motor and wing spars)

Typical ornithopters have the following problems:
1. They use an inefficient membrane wing to approximate wing articulation, or they use a heavy wing articulation system that cannot vary the amount of articulation with flapping frequency and flight speed.
2. They have one pair of flapping wings; this produces a cyclic loading on the motor that requires the motor to be sized for a peak torque that is much larger than the average torque.

This design addresses these problems via the following:


1. The design has two pairs of wings that are 180 degrees out of phase, this dynamically balances the device and results in a much lower peak torque requirement.
2. The design has torsion springs that articulate the wings in proportion to the lift force on the wing. This means that a faster