"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 you can find a system of two cameras and a control unit that doesn't weigh 5x the weight of your average fly then we probably will... untill that happens here's a much more traditional nav (nano-aerial vehicle):
http://pixelito.reference.be/pixelito%201.htm
Also, as for electrically stimulating animal/insect brains, the subjects tend to adapt over time rendering the systems useless.
Slashdot Mirror
"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 you can find a system of two cameras and a control unit that doesn't weigh 5x the weight of your average fly then we probably will... untill that happens here's a much more traditional nav (nano-aerial vehicle): http://pixelito.reference.be/pixelito%201.htm Also, as for electrically stimulating animal/insect brains, the subjects tend to adapt over time rendering the systems useless.