Studio Ghibli's "Castle in the Sky", a feature animation directed by Hayao Miazaki is well known not only in Japan but also across the globe. Although there are many memorable moments and characters in the animation, "flaptter" (an airplane that Dola flies) might be one of the most striking machines of the animation.

Flaptter travels by contracting artificial muscles to move the four wings. The way flaptter flies is like an insect.

Kazuhiko Kakuta, a doctor, wanted to create flaptter for real... and here's how it turned out:

Dr. Kakuta's radio-controlled flaptter is flying nimbly in the sky while keeping in line with the original. The video has been uploaded to YouTube and there has been many positive reactions. The most impressive part is the attention to detail - one can sense how much love Dr. Kakuta has over this animation.

Recently, many people has made imaginary objects into reality. I wonder if there will be a time when someone makes a full-scale version of flying cities found in the world of Laputa.