Wing Automaton

An automaton with a flying wing movement, inspired by the story of Icarus.

This piece was one of my first projects experimenting with metalwork and mechanisms, made at the end of my first year at university. The design was inspired by the mythology of Ancient Greece, as well as ornithopters and the flying machines of Leonardo da Vinci.

I initially made a rough sketch model from cardboard to design how the mechanism would work, before refining the model in Rhino and finally making it out of brass.

I machined components of the mechanism using the lathe and mill, while the wings were made of silver soldered wire and the body of pierced, folded and soldered sheet.