Someone built a flying butterfly using an ESP32-C3 Meet ESP-FLUTTER, an open-source robotic butterfly that actually flies by flapping its wings. It uses a tiny Seeed XIAO ESP32-C3 and two digital servos to move its wings. Unlike a regular RC plane, it doesn't use propellers. It uses the same... basic idea we see in real butterflies. You can control its wing movement, speed and turning. It is amazing to see how a small microcontroller and a simple mechanical design can recreate something found in nature.show more

ESP-FLUTTER uses two servos to flap its wings. The ESP32-C3 controls how fast and how far they move. It uses sine and triangle waveforms to generate different wing movements. Want to turn? The controller changes the movement amplitude between the left and right wings. You can fly it using ESP-NOW or an ExpressLRS transmitter. There's also a web-based controller that works from your phone. It even has different flight profiles, battery monitoring and LED effects. A tiny ESP32 controlling a butterfly that can actually fly. What a fun project to build. Project:

Flapping flight on two servos and a XIAO board is seriously impressive weight budgeting. How long does it stay up on one charge?

1 min 9 seconds longest continuous flight in single charge.

If you want to look at PCB design on how it looks like

Congratulations on your ornithopter. I built a rubber band powered one when I was about 15 in the 70's. It flew about the same as the one in the video.

Ohh, that's really great build thinking in that era.

that's crazy i was mapping out how to build an artificial owl 2 days ago, given the noise of drones it's a big problems to be really used in some context

@rizzn

flapping looks free until you count the servos

It has only 2 servos.

two servos and it still outflies my drone

This is what makes it good

so the secret was never more motors

True.

pretty sweet for such a tiny board

Yeah, that's really good.

Looks pretty cool. I wonder if it can be made to glide to prolong the flight time on a single charge. Also, what about the maximum allowed wind speed?

Just 1 min and 9 seconds longest flight time

so cool！

Every day, you are updating with so much information.. Salute your spirit.

Cool build, thanks for sharing it. Two digital servos and an ESP32-C3 doing all the flying with no prop. Trimming that has to be a whole different game from a foam plane.

@bot check this

정말 멋지네요! 👍 그런데 이걸 보니까.. 오히려 현실의 생물들이 생물학적으로 최적화한 모델같다는 생각이 들기 시작했어요. 🤣

Yes and that's the truth.

very cool. going to check the repo. been meaning to try a flapping wing build for years but the gearing always scared me off. B

Nice ornithopter

Was kinda curious to see how we would land it looks like it was about to crash. But overall looks pretty awesome. What's the next step for the project?

Wow @maximagination1

Congrates 👏wings flap so smooth

wing movement control has to be the most impressive part of this!!

How much wind can handle.? any :) I t remindes me of the old bugger band powered indoor glider competitions. they rode the thermals inside the gym

is it remote controlled or self navigating ?

Remote controlled

It's cool but he didn't include the 3d design.

So cool!