During World War II, psychologist B.F. Skinner trained pigeons to pilot missiles by pecking at targets on a screen.

Project Pigeon, later renamed Project Orcon for 'organic control,' was a serious research effort led by renowned behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner starting in 1940. At the time, the United States lacked effective guidance systems for its 1,000-pound Pelican missiles, which often missed their marks. Skinner applied his theories of operant conditioning to train pigeons to recognize and peck at specific maritime targets displayed on a ground-glass screen.The system utilized three pigeons for redundancy, with a majority-rule logic determining the missile's path. When the pigeons pecked at the center of the target, the missile flew straight. If the target moved off-center, the birds' pecking on the edges of the screen triggered pneumatic valves that adjusted the missile's steering fins. Skinner's research was funded by the National Defense Research Committee with a grant of $25,000 in 1943.Despite successful demonstrations where the pigeons remained focused even under the stress of simulated gunfire, military officials remained skeptical of the 'bird-brained' technology. The project was officially canceled on October 8, 1944, because the military preferred to invest in electronic guidance systems that were more predictable for human operators. However, the project remains a landmark in the history of cybernetics and animal behavior, proving that biological organisms could be integrated into sophisticated feedback loops.