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Dragonfly-Sized Insect Spies Spotted, Denied

SRA8 sends in a Washington Post piece about work at various academic, government, and military labs on insect-sized flying spies. A number of people reported what appeared to be flying mechanical insects, larger than dragonflies, over an antiwar rally in Washington DC last month. The reporter got mostly no-comments from the agencies he called trying to pin down what it was they saw. Only the FBI said through a spokesman: "We don't have anything like that." The article describes work on insect cyborgs as well as purely mechanical flying spies, but quotes vice admiral Joe Dyer, former commander of the Naval Air Systems Command now at iRobot in Burlington, Mass., as follows: "I'll be seriously dead before that program deploys." The article also mentions an International Symposium on Flying Insects and Robots, held in Switzerland in August, at which Japanese researchers demonstrated radio-controlled fliers with four-inch wingspans that resemble hawk moths.

9 of 433 comments (clear)

  1. That's what we need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Robotic *and* insect overlords

  2. Oblig. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's not a bug, it's a feature!

  3. Re:Nothing to see by flitty · · Score: 5, Funny

    Joe Dyer, former commander of the Naval Air Systems Command now at iRobot in Burlington, Mass., as follows: "I'll be seriously dead before that program deploys."

    In unrelated news, Joe Dyer has been found dead in an alley. Here's tom with the weather.
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    Whether or not there is some sort of god, I'm not supposed to say/god is a word and the argument ends there-Smog
  4. I was at that march... by Scratch-O-Matic · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...and a mechanical spy-bird cra*ped on my tinfoil hat.

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    Evil is the money of root.
  5. If these exist.. by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..then I've got to go to more antiwar rallies. I can't be the only fool who would love to catch one of these babies and take it home to play with... anyone selling butterfly nets with Faraday cages installed?

  6. Re:The thought was not quite finished by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh, that's easy. I don't think they've sent robot dragonflies to the Middle East because they sent cyborg squirrels instead.

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    The enemies of Democracy are
  7. Re:Why waste it on protestors? by Analogy+Man · · Score: 5, Funny

    You failed to make your observation in a free speach zone. Your failure to comply will be noted in your "freedom file".

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    When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
  8. Re:Nothing to see by SomeoneGotMyNick · · Score: 5, Funny

    Have you ever tried to take a picture of a dragonfly, in flight, with the camera on your mobile? Yes, while in my car going 65mph in the other direction. What a superb image it was!!! I'd show it to you, but I forgot to turn off the bluetooth on my phone and someone at a net cafe deleted the file without my knowledge.

  9. Re:Nothing to see by 93,000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I said nothing about resolution giving proof. My point was that if there was something there of interest, someone would have at least attempted to photograph it and would have something to show for it -- very likely a crappy photo, yes, but at least something to show.

    How many in focus "UFO" photos have you seen? Having a photo that's blurry just sweetens the deal for the tin foil hat crowd. Then they can tell you all the things "you would have seen it in detail just like I'm describing if you were there, you just can't make it out in the picture. Damn cheap camera!" It gives them something semi-tangible, yet open to interpretation.