Like birds and other flying animals, the robot uses perching as a way to conserve energy.

Dan Pearce—an engineer, architect, general contractor, and artist—is enjoying a circuitous career. He spent nearly a decade as an aerospace engineer at NASA in Houston and then he moved with his wife as she pursued an academic career at the University of Virginia.

Not finding many aerospace engineering opportunities in his new hometown of Charlottesville, Pearce became involved in other projects, including building a solar-powered house for his family and creating unusual sculptures.