Ornithopters were not a successful method of plane flight, but from this wrong direction came knowledge and future discoveries. Military research has created ornithopter-type surveillance devices. While these are not manned aircraft, they use DaVinci's initial genius as one premise for their research. The power versus weight problem-Great power is needed to overcome weight. The movement of an ornithopter is inefficient and does not create enough energy to compensate for gravity with one important exception. Size changes the principles of flight so devices as small as a dragonfly can work on the ornithopter concept.

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