The design of our mechanism is based on a compilation of analysis of different flapping bird motions. Our ultimate goal is to build a robot that can fly like a bird. The original idea of replicating a bird's flying motion came from a presentation on Ted Talks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg_JcKSHUtQ
As seen in the video, the experiment involved a robot flying by replicating the flapping motion of a bird. In terms or replicating a bird's entire motion however, there is more to the mechanism than just flapping it's wings. More research was needed to properly understand a bird's entire motion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jKokxPRtck
After more research, we wanted our mechanism to replicate the rotation a bird has in it's wings meaning we needed two degrees of freedom instead of just one as seen in the Ted Talks experiment. The first prototype of the mechanism will be made of wood. We want to fully grasp each degree of freedom separately and then try to combine them in the end. Ultimately, we can take some insight from the shoulder mechanism Dr. Deshpande introduced at the beginning of the year to see how to combine both motions with one motor.