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Tiny Flyer Navigates Like Fly

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the build-a-bigger-flyswatter dept.

Assassin bug writes to tell us the Discovery Channel is reporting on a new ultralight autonomous aircraft that could be the next 'fly on the wall'. From the article: "The 10-gram microflyer, being developed by a team of researchers lead by Dario Floreano at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, has a 36-centimeter (14-inch) wingspan. But it could one day be shrunk to insect size and used for search and rescue."

7 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Search and rescue? by liliafan · · Score: 4, Funny
    It is kinda cool that they have developed this, but:

    But it could one day be shrunk to insect size and used for search and rescue.


    Who are they planning on rescuing? Commando Ants trained for search and destroy? I could even see this doing assasination missions, a little needle a nerve agent, but sorry search and destroy really?
    --
    GeekServ Unix Consulting Services (http://www.geekserv.com)
    1. Re:search and rescue? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      "sorry sir, due to a terrible miscalculation of scale, the entire fleet was swallowed by a small dog."

    2. Re:search and rescue? by mr100percent · · Score: 3, Funny

      Anyone remember the episode of the TV Show Get Smart? Control spends a million dollars building a robotic fly for infiltration and spying, and Max comes in and smashes it with a newspaper.

  2. Typo. by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny
    > The 10-gram microflyer, being developed by a team of researchers lead by Dario Floreano at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, has a 36-centimeter (14-inch) wingspan. But it could one day be shrunk to insect size and used for search and rescue.

    Hmm. "Search and rescue". Silly Swiss, neutral, impregnably-defended, makers of great chocolate, but they can't even spell "surveillance" right on a grant application! Sheesh.

  3. I can see it now.. by NorbrookC · · Score: 5, Funny

    search and rescue..

    "Well, we're lost. I hope someone is looking for us." (slap) "Damn bugs!"

  4. Yes... by Wellington+Grey · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Indoor environments are really tough," said Erik Steltz, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley... For example, in order to zip around indoor obstacles -- walls, corners, bookcases, furniture, ceilings, etc. -- a flyer needs to see the objects and have the brain power to steer away.

    Is there a different method used when outdoors? I've never been, so I don't know.

    -Grey

    --
    Silver Clipboard: Time Management Tips
  5. Re:Easier idea by suv4x4 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Why build a fancy flight system to be swatted when we could just take a real fly, attach 2 tiny cameras (four if they're small enough, one for each direction) and a little zapper to zap its brain when it goes the wrong direction we want."

    If a fly with 4 cameras, a zapper and an antenna flies in, won't you become kinda suspicious?