22 March 2010, 13:09Airport bosses in Rio de Janeiro have come up with a solution to potentially deadly collisions between planes and birds - a robot hawk.
The robo-raptor is being tested near the airport to see if it can scare away flocks responsible for "bird strikes", according to Infraero, the company that manages airports in Brazil.
In the last two years, bird strikes increased by 45 percent. The collisions can cause damage to turbines and other parts of planes, causing emergency landings or even crashes.
Now officials are pinning their hopes on the robot, which can fly up to 300 metres at a time, with a top speed of 30mph.
They say the robot hawk will not cause any harm to the birds, as it doesn't come into contact with them, but instead mimics the flying pattern of a typical predator, scaring the flocks away to a safe distance from the runways on the island of Gobernador.
If trials of the new technology prove successful, it is planned to introduce it at other airports across Brazil.
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Robo-hawk_takes_to_the_skies
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