Patent ID: 6926230

Claim:
A flapping apparatus having a body and a pair of wing portions provided on left and right sides with respect to forward and backward directions of the body, wherein: said wing portions generate, by their motions, fluid force on surrounding fluid, the fluid force being capable of generating, on the flapping apparatus, a lift force larger than gravity of the flapping apparatus in a direction opposite to the gravity of the flapping apparatus; said flapping apparatus comprising, for at least one of said wing portions: a wing shaft having one end fixed on the wing portion and the other end attached to the body, for transmitting driving force of a driving source to the wing portion; a central point rotating member capable of rotating the wing shaft about a prescribed central point along a plane parallel to the forward and backward direction and to the left and right direction orthogonal to the forward and backward direction; a wing shaft rotating member that follows the rotation of the wing shaft about the prescribed central point without using any driving force from the driving source and rotates the wing shaft about a central axis of rotation parallel to the direction of extension of the wing shaft; a stopper limiting range of rotation of the wing shaft rotating member so that rotation angle of the wing shaft is limited within a prescribed range; wherein the wing shaft rotating member has its positional relation relative to the central point rotating member fixed when the stopper is functioning, so that rotation of the wing shaft is caused by the rotation of the central point rotating member, and the wing shaft rotating member rotates as the central point rotating member rotates when the stopper is not functioning, so that rotation of the wing shaft is caused by the rotation of the wing shaft rotating member.