Daily Tech News Show Crash-proof Drone Inspired by Woodpecker - DTNS Weekend
Oct 4, 2025
Nicole Ackermans, a science correspondent and researcher focused on animals that sustain head impacts, discusses a woodpecker-inspired crash-proof drone. She explains the drone's innovative tensegrity design that claims to reduce impact forces by 70%. However, Dr. Ackermans challenges the biological claims underpinning the drone's design, highlighting inaccuracies in studies regarding brain injury in woodpeckers. She emphasizes the need for engineers to collaborate with biologists to avoid dangerous assumptions in biomimicry.
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Tensegrity Drone Reduces Crash Impact
- The drone uses tensegrity cable structures to absorb impact and reduce forces by about 70%.
- Engineers built a fixed-wing crash-resistant drone inspired by woodpecker anatomy that appears to work in tests.
Shock Claims Lack Brain-Focused Evidence
- Many engineering papers claim the woodpecker's hyoid apparatus absorbs shock, but they rarely measure brain outcomes.
- Studies often test bone properties or dried bone rather than whole living systems with muscles and brain.
Survival ≠ Brain Immunity
- We don't actually know if woodpeckers avoid brain injury; they may still suffer long-term damage.
- Animals can survive and reproduce despite chronic brain trauma, so evolutionary 'perfection' isn't required.