Slashdot Mirror


The Army's $10M Spy Bat Still Too Big

Lucas123 writes "The University of Michigan's Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology (COM-BAT) is working on building a robot bat that would perform long-range reconnaissance for the U.S. Army, but U.Mich is currently struggling with miniaturizing components in order to make the bat small enough to be stealthy. 'The focus is to shrink down many electronics that while currently available would only be good if the US Army wanted, say, a 12-foot spy-bat.' Some components need to be 1,000 times smaller than they currently are. The Army's $10 million grant proposal calls for the bat to be six inches in length, weigh four ounces and use just one watt of power. The bat is supposed to be powered by a lithium-ion battery, charged by solar and wind energy, as well as simple vibrations."

3 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Vampire? by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Why not make a requirment to be a vampire bat?

    It could feed on blood...and thus hurt the enemy, and generate power for long missions. It would be cool too, in that it would only come out at night, and could only be killed with a wooden stake.

    :-)

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  2. COM-BAT? by Ryukotsusei · · Score: 5, Funny

    Okay, this is taking military acronyms way too far..

  3. Solar power? by druuna · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've always thought that bats are nocturnal.......