'Robird' developed to scare away birds at airports

Clear Flight Solutions is benefiting from the more relaxed rules at Weeze, as well as the relatively limited amount of air traffic there. The airport handles around 2.5 million passengers annually, most of whom come from the Netherlands. Schiphol Airport handles 55 million passengers annually.

The Robird is the flagship product of Clear Flight Solutions - a robotics and drone spin-off company of the University of Twente. The company was recently the beneficiary of an investment of €1.6 million from Cottonwood Euro Technology Fund.

The cost of bird control at airports worldwide is estimated in the billions, and does not consist only of material damage, as birds can also be the cause of fatal accidents. Birds worldwide also cause damage running into billions in the agrarian sector, the waste disposal sector, harbours, and the oil and gas industry.

A common problem is that since birds are clever they quickly get used to existing bird control solutions, and simply fly around them. The high-tech Robird, however, convincingly mimics the flight of a real peregrine falcon.

The flying behaviour of the Robird is so true to life that birds immediately believe that their natural enemy is present in the area. Because this approach exploits the birds' instinctive fear of birds of prey, habituation is not an issue.