Nature → tech
Flyer-0 lock strip. Mechanisms, not a species and not a commercial insect-drone story.
In hovering insects.
Controlled kinematics.
Instrumented for lift and power.
Energy return.
Each half-stroke.
Tuned near wingbeat — the thorax resonator, not the pitch hinge.
Near stroke reversal.
No extra pitch DOF on v0.
Living-hinge pitch is separate from the thorax resonator. Active pitch later.
Alternate starts (not Phase-2 footnotes)
Flyer-1 Dual-pair and Flyer-2 Resonant piezo are first-principles forks in the catalog. Clap-and-fling stays a curiosity bench. Hybrid prop assist is a backup branch only if pure flap lift fails under battery mass.
Path to prototype
Public cards: phase + one-line goal + qualitative exit. Lab numbers stay off this page.
Concept freeze · done
Archetype + ~10–20 g scale locked.
Exit: shared language for the first flyer.
Bench
Drive, surrogate wing, coupons, power path.
Exit: mechanism pieces work without needing lift.
Tethered flap
Soft tether → leash → endurance.
Exit: tethered hover without breaking.
Free flight
Indoor/netted hops → station-keep.
Exit: a short indoor hop that was intended.
Demo ready
Repeatable education/research demo.
Exit: someone else can run it from a checklist.