Robot helps you become a fly on the wall
Thursday, July 26, 2007



A new spying gadget which even James Bond would be proud to have in his armoury has been devised.

Weighing in at a featherweight 60mg, the life-size 'listening' robotic fly has taken to the air.

It is hoped the fly can pass unnoticed in 'enemy territory' and record topsecret information for the intelligence services.

'You probably would not notice a fly in the room, but you certainly would notice a hawk,' said the Harvard University project leader, Robert Wood.

His team used lasers to cut the ultrathin carbon fibre needed to create a flexible and functional fly, which flaps its wings at 110 beats per second.

'Simply scaling down existing macro-scale techniques would not have come close to the performance we needed,' said Mr Wood.

However the fly will not be fooling any secret agents at this stage in its development – so far it can move only straight up.

The project is said to be funded by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The robotic flies may also be used on the battlefield or in 'urban environments'.



Coming to a Pan African meeting near you.....

They've probably already got them... sounds weird but take a look at some kiddies toys and you can see what they're bringing in or have been working on already...