Robotic Fly to Descend on New York 138
DeviceGuru writes "Harvard University's tiny microrobotic fly, hailed by its creators as 'the first robotic fly that is able to generate enough thrust to takeoff,' will be showcased at New York's Museum of Modern Art starting Feb. 24. The life-sized 'Flybot' reportedly has a wingspan of 1.2 inches (3 cm) and weighs a mere 0.002 ounces (60 mg). This project of the Harvard University Microbotics Lab has received funding from DARPA, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which hopes to gain access to micro-miniature surveillance technologies."
Won't be long now (Score:5, Interesting)
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"I wish my fly on the wall had batteries that lasted more than 15 minutes!"
I don't care how small they make it, until it has hours of power in it, it's nothing but a expensive toy.
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Or perhaps they could take a leaf from that UAV design that was in the news a while ago that would supposedly leech power from distribution lines--a similar idea, but scaled down to fly size. You wouldn't need more than a few microwatts to power a fly, I shouldn't think, and you coul
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The expression "I wish I was a fly on the wall when $EVENT happened" is soon to become reality...
Would you believe 20 minutes into the future?
...got to stop this now!...
Carter: What I wouldn't give to be a fly on that boardroom wall.
Bryce: Well, you can if you like.
Carter: What?
Cheviot:
Carter: Bryce, what is this?
Bryce: Oh, it's a bug. Well, a fly, actually. It was my graduation project when I was eleven.
Carter: A mechanical fly?
In Soviet Russia... (Score:1)
Re:Won't be long now, but can it sing SUPERFLY? (Score:2)
?
Or, can it sing "Fly Like an Eagle"?
I think I'm going to develop a window-border gunky misting system to keep this critters grounded, to gunk up their flappers. And, I'll design a "force field" to short them out if they pass the window sill.
This Revolutionizes Woody Allen's Comedy (Score:4, Funny)
Waiter: Don't worry sir that GRU robotic spider on your bread will soon get him!
Re:This Revolutionizes Woody Allen's Comedy (Score:5, Interesting)
First is the Diamond Age route, where the 'bots go smaller and smaller until they get to the nanoscale, and we end up with 'toner' everywhere.
The second is building a spider to catch the fly, building a bird to catch the spider, building a cat to catch the bird, et al., until you get up to the point where you're making little old ladies swallow equines to take care of a surveillance bug.
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She's dead, [wikipedia.org] of course.
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I know that this could be a bit paranoid of me to think this but then, perhaps not?
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Hopefully, not.
Once we achieve full molecular nanotechnology, we'll be able to create backups of ourselves. "I" will be a construct somewhere deep within the Earth; the body you see will just be an extension, with a large-bandwidth wireless connection between us, so that the body
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Please, Jeez. Leave your sick little fantasies out of this.
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Good bye privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
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The robotic fly was eaten by their robotic cat.
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better yet, politicians (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Good bye privacy (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, I'm beginning to think that's only thing that will save our civilization from the evil sociopaths in positions of power
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I certainly find it reasonable. The idea being that if said scrutiny was in place, it would discourage sociopaths from taking the job at all.
In fact, we have ample evidence that they feel they are less accountable for their actions than the people they represent. If your objective is to turn a bright light on a bunch of cockroaches, y
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and sell and expensive RFID tracker to defend the "important people" from the public actually finding out what you are up to.
Sure, my grocery store gets to probe me up the wazoo and put it all in a database -- but I don't get to hear what's going on in ENRON's board meeting.
The laws are creating more privacy rights for business, in the guise of "trade secrets" -- so, if YOU do it to the people with power, watch out. However, this should still provide an advantage, because som
/.ed (Score:1)
alternate URL: (Score:2)
I don't know what kind of flies they have in NY... (Score:2, Insightful)
No worries... (Score:4, Funny)
They are coming out with an equivalent cockroach version in a couple of months. The next generation "fruit fly" model is expected to be available in late 2010.
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You can see the initial prototype here [penny-arcade.com].
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Horsefly, Dragonfly, or some of the ones on this list: http://www.whatsthatbug.com/flies.html [whatsthatbug.com]
Layne
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-- first published in 1974
Re:I don't know what kind of flies they have in NY (Score:2)
A dragonfly?
(-1:HarHarHar)
SB
Robofly/robot-humanoid teleporter accident (Score:2, Funny)
Sarah Connor is pissed! (Score:2, Funny)
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I've got $5 (or better, 5 Euros) that says.... (Score:2)
zzzzzzZZZzzttttt and the 'fly' becomes a lay still and collect dust
EMP - just what we need in suburbia (Score:2)
You can kiss goodbye all of your, and your neighbours' electronics (PC, phone, car, pacemaker)...
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Interesting times, indeed.
Domestic "Fly" Surveillance (Score:5, Funny)
I hope I don't get billed for all the lost government property that is swallowed by my cats!
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You can bet that your vet will bill you for extracting indigestible electronics from their intestinal tracts, tho.
Then the FBI shows up at your door...
SB
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One morning you're scooping them out, and you see a gleam of metal in a feces. Your first thought is "What *is* that?"
Your second thought after dissecting the feces is "Hey, didn't I read about these on Slashdot a few years ago? Shit!"
SB
Oblig. horror movie: (Score:1)
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid (Score:2)
Cr@p! Sorry everyone! (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, the little flybot does appear to work, although a) it's powererd externally, and b) it's on rails that only allow it to move vertically. The narrator of the video admits that [paraphrasing] "We're missing some things, like an independent, on-board electronics package to control it, and a suitable power source." Basically it's just a pair of (working) wings at this point.
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Laser Guided Drones [discovermagazine.com]
SB
Re:Cr@p! Sorry everyone! (Score:5, Funny)
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Oblig (Score:5, Funny)
Waiter: Watching your every move.
A better showplace... (Score:3, Interesting)
On the other hand, your basic laws of scaling are going to be an effective law to limit the usefulness of these gadgets. The battery power goes down as the cube, while the air resistance is at least one power below that, so they're going to be mighty short-lived, like seconds rather than minutes.
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The best benefit is that the tricky and expensive process of initial manufacture is taken care of for you, at very minimal cost (a warm box with water and sticky disgusting stuff to eat is all you need).
Yay for robotic insect surveillance! (Score:3, Interesting)
If the surveillance culture thing bothers you, keep working on cracker tech so we can always tap into the wireless signal and decode it. Information restriction is going to be impossible. Information parity is where it's at (though it's not going to be a gift- it's probably always going to be a captured prize.) This will tend to create an 'information serf class' which gets lied to by people who are confident they won't be able to sort out the truth.
Oh wait, got that. I mean in fields like medici.. oh wait. Well... more so
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I can't wait to dig out my collection once my kids are old enough to read them.
Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy [wikipedia.org]
partial wiki excerpt:
Now there's one for the record books (Score:2)
If that one was the first it makes one wonder just how many robotic fly failures came before. And where are the spectacular crash videos? Like the ones from the early days of spaceflight.
Yes, a truly proud chapter in the technological advancement of mankind. The day scientists huddled around their robotic fly and it spread its tiny, robotic wings and generated enough thrust to launch itself into history!
Quick! We need to bo
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When it crashes ... (Score:4, Funny)
Life size? (Score:2, Insightful)
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You should get out of the city more often. We swat 1-inch horseflies [wikipedia.org] whenever we see them, because they bite the horses (and us, if we're slow enough) and spread Equine Infectious Anemia [eqgroup.com] (aka "Swamp Fever", or frequently "Coggins" after the test used to detect it).
If someone saw an inch-and-a-half specimen, they'd just think it was a little overgrown. Of course, normally when you smash one they splat
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</Dumbo>
Fly? (Score:4, Funny)
So presumably its predecessors were called robotic walks then?
In all seriousness... (Score:1)
Crawling spider bots to check out the lays of buildings before the riot police go in, floating swimming robots to watch water pollution levels, I could even see them being used in pest prevention, using little robot drones to kill off unwanted pests. Sort of like Terminator, but for bugs.
The real question is how are they gonna power these suckers?
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The Character of Americans (Score:3, Interesting)
I am sure the comments will be flooded with alarmists screeching about black helicopter secret governments. I have a different opinion.
I cannot imagine that any truly great surveillance technology (such as tiny robotic flies) won't be used for selfish purposes -- by all layers of American society. You know your manager wants to spy on you, why not spy on your manager if there's no chance of getting caught? Get some nice juicy dirt! Back-room dirty deals among politicians? It's on Youtube now!
It's hard to accept, but we're hurtling toward a privacy-free society, including corporate board-rooms, Congressional meetings, NDAs (forget em), and whatever you do in your garage on Thursday nights.
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We already know who the criminals are. It IS all on Youtube. The sad fact of the matter remains, however, that the bad guys have all the guns and write all the laws and hold all the prison keys.
The criminals are still running the show and the jails are overwhelmingly filled with poor people. And anyway, robot
The end of privacy (Score:2)
Who would be prepared to sacrifice their personal privacy if it meant that all political/coporate interactions were public knowledge? Bribary, embezzlement, collusion... all could see the light of day..
Hell, if that happened we might even get a free market!
Unfortunately, I expect it might be a more one-sided loss of privacy in practice.
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Yes, I am an American.
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The Diamond Age... (Score:2)
Dragonfly (Score:2)
The Tangible Reality of the Technology (Score:5, Interesting)
You can call it "crap" all you want - but guess what! This technology is really on its way - is very real and tangible
I'm both an engineer and an R/C heli/airplane fan - and I've been pretty amazed at the kind of stuff that's been coming available over just the last few years - and I'm not talking "scientific research" but even commercial products you can find at your local hobby store or mall.
Lets look:
Batteries Crazy advances in odd things like Li-Po batteries and "supercaps" which are very light, small, and can charge very quickly.
Motors Brushless electric motors with much greater power and efficiency. People are literally ripping their gas engines out of their 60-sized helis and replacing them with electric motors and batteries!
Radios Spread-Spectrum radios which provide operation free of glitches and interference.
Wireless Video Probibly because of the new CCD stuff from WebCams and the like - there are a billion wireless video "toys" out even for little kids - RC cars with "spy cameras", VEX robotic kits, etc.
Gyros They keep getting better and better - cheaper and cheaper -helping with stability
Servos Or the lack of 'em! glue a tiny neodyme magnet on a piece of foam and wrap a wire around it a couple times to control you control surface! They sell tiny foam RC planes based on this
Stable Helis Counter-rotating helis that are extremely stable - allowing a complete novice to fly indoors quickly. You can even buy one a Brookstones for $29!
And of course the radios and electronics are of course getting smaller and more integrated. This is an amaizing time for this kind of stuff - I can't wait to see what the next few years will bring!
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It's amazing stuff.
This robotic fly has almost none of it. The little fly doesn't even have a control system. It's about as meaningful as a propeller that can't even support its own fuel. There aren't even control surfaces.
The guys who put it together must be embarrassed at the media attention. Cool device, but not revolutionary or anything.
a side point (probably offtopic) (Score:3, Insightful)
First thought: Geez, they're putting Polonium in batteries now?
After a quick googling: Nevermind [google.com].
Please don't call it that. Li is an element, and readers will assume Po refers to the element as well. Li-Poly is much less misleading.
The Big Brother issue is a minor. (Score:1)
Alternate story URL (Score:2)
The Deus Machine (Score:2)
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pardon my French
Annoying (Score:2)
Video Link (Score:2)
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So does this mean (Score:1)
I cannot resist (Score:2)
robot fly (Score:1)
MIT, where is your fly? (Score:2)
Or has MIT been outdone by Harvard on this one?
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