Robots to tackle pigeon menace

In Britain, as part of Liverpool's plans for its year as European Capital of Culture in 2008, robotic birds will be employed to scare off fat pigeons.

Councillor Berni Turner, Liverpool city council's executive member for the environment, said: "Feral pigeons are a real nuisance in the city centre, they fly up at people and they leave droppings everywhere which not only makes the city look really unattractive but can make surfaces slippery and dangerous.

Ten robotic birds of prey are being brought into the city centre to scare off the pigeons and visitors are being warned not to give them food. The mechanical birds - called "Robops" - are to sit on the roofs of buildings, and can be moved around. They look like a Peregrine Falcon, which is a natural predator of pigeons, and even squawk and flap their wings to scare off the birds.

Video: BBC
Source: BBC via Arbroath
Tags: Robot | Bird | Robotics