MICRO WARFARE (Small, smart and deadly, micro air vehicles swarm onto the battlefield.)

Popular Mechanics ^ | Apr | JIM WILSON

[Diddley]

Ron Fearing has the future of warfare at the tip of his finger (photo of a fly-sized winged-vehicle the size of a paper-clip). It isn’t pressing on the trigger of a laser death ray or button of a doomsday device. It’s holding a stubby-winged mechanical bug.

“Flies are one of the most stable and maneuverable of all flying animals,” says the University of California at Berkeley biologist. “They are the jet fighters of the animal world.” The Pentagon shares this opinion and wants to turn these Bizzaro World duplicates of houseflies into real jet fighters.

The Berkeley team is one of about a dozen groups of engineers and biologists who are exploring the final frontier of flight: micro air vehicles (MAVs). By merging the aerodynamics of insects with GPS navigation and molecular electronics, they hope to initially create an arsenal of tiny reconnaissance tools.

When perfected, Fearing’s stainless steel and Mylar robot flies will be able to flap their way into the most secret places on Earth—the bunkers where Saddam Hussein plans his genocidal campaigns, and where Chinese spymasters plot their raids on America’s nuclear weapons laboratories.

[Diddley]

[From the articel]: To be a fly on the wall, MAVs will have to fly like flies—in other words, flap their wings

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[Diddley]

articel - article

[Rebelbase]

bump for later read.

[dinok]

I just swatted one ...teach people to spy on me

[solzhenitsyn]

Thanks for a fascinating article, Diddley!

O brave new world, that has such skeeters in it!

[Diddley]

Oh! No! That was the prototype.

[Diddley]

. . . that has such skeeters in it!

LOL

[EternalVigilance]

[Tribune7]

Flies or locusts?

[Naspino]

This is great and all -- but errr -- if a Democrat becomes president want ALL of our enemies have this technology and just use it against us?

If we're going to build weapons lets build GIANT EXPENSIVE ones so that our enemies cannot so easily steal their concepts.

[Diddley]

Anti MUV System.

[Diddley]

Always thinking, aren't you?
:-)

[Diddley]

As long as it's a swarm.
:-)

[Zetman]

"When perfected, Fearing’s stainless steel and Mylar robot flies will be able to flap their way into the most secret places on Earth—the bunkers where Saddam Hussein plans his genocidal campaigns, and where Chinese spymasters plot their raids on America’s nuclear weapons laboratories."

I doubt it. When perfected, most of them will be flying over nude beaches and through locker rooms!!!

[Diddley]

:-)

[txzman]

I doubt it. When perfected, most of them will be flying over nude beaches and through locker rooms!!!


LOL! I was looking for a new business idea...

[gcruse]

(photo of a fly-sized winged-vehicle the size of a paper-clip)

Well, is it fly-sized or paper clip-sized?
Jeez, I liked it a lot better when grown-ups
wrote the articles.

[Diddley]

Well, is it fly-sized or paper clip-sized?

Good point.
It's actually the size of a paper clip, but in the shape of a fly.

[Diddle E. Squat]

The next line of annoying X-cam popup ads merchandise?