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The next time you grab your fly-swatter, look closely before you attack. You may be swatting at a robot. Professor Robert Wood of Harvard University and a team of engineers have created a life-size, flying, robotic fly. Their Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) is a faux insect that physically resembles its real-life archetype. The ability to create the intricate details of this robotic fly is attributed to advances in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
The Micromechanical Flying Insect (MFI) project began in 1998 and was concentrated on understanding the natural, fluid flight of real flies. Unlike "typical" robots, the robotic fly is neither large, nor slow, nor heavy; in fact, the robotic fly is the same size as a real fly. It weighs in at 60 mm and has a wingspan of 3 cm. Its small size allows the robotic fly to flap its wings at 150 beats a second. Made of polyester and stainless steel struts, the fly's wings have even been reinforced with carbon fiber joints to prevent breakage. As of the beginning of this month, the robotic fly is able to move up and down. There are plans to incorporate an onboard battery, flight controller, power source, and sensors for the miniature robot to successfully move in all directions.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is supporting the Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) project for applications in military surveillance. It has even been suggested that the robotic fly could land on enemies and leave electronic tags for easy targeting. DARPA has expressed an interest in developing MAVs with a flying range of 6.2 miles (10 km), the ability to fly day or night, and an ideal speed of 22 to 45 mph (35.4 to 72.4 kph).
Engineers and researchers believe that the robotic fly can be used for many other purposes, such as search and rescue operations, gathering weather information, detection of chemical and radiological substances, traffic monitoring, wildlife surveys, power-line inspections, aerial photography, or surveillance.
When this technology is complete, I ask:
- Will the government be able to monitor their own use of surveillance devices?
- Who are our "enemies"?
- How much will this technology cost?
- Where will the money come from?
- What's next?
Resources:
https://science.howstuffworks.com/spy-fly4.htm
https://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/06/fearing/story2.html
https://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19068/page2/
https://www.engadget.com/2007/07/19/harvard-universitys-robotic-fly-takes-flight/
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