Rabu, 20 Juni 2012

Is that really just a fly? Swarms of cyborg insect drones are the future of military surveillance

Is that really just a fly? Swarms of cyborg insect drones are the future of military surveillance

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 11:16 EST, 19 June 2012 | UPDATED: 12:05 EST, 20 June 2012


The kinds of drones making the headlines daily are the heavily armed CIA and U.S. Army vehicles which routinely strike targets in Pakistan - killing terrorists and innocents alike.

But the real high-tech story of surveillance drones is going on at a much smaller level, as tiny remote controlled vehicles based on insects are already likely being deployed.

Over recent years a range of miniature drones, or micro air vehicles (MAVs), based on the same physics used by flying insects, have been presented to the public.

The fear kicked off in 2007 when reports of bizarre flying objects hovering above anti-war protests sparked accusations that the U.S. government was accused of secretly developing robotic insect spies.

Researchers have now developed bio-inspired drones with bug eyes, bat ears, bird wings, and even honeybee-like hairs to sense biological, chemical and nuclear weapons

Researchers have now developed bio-inspired drones with bug eyes, bat ears, bird wings, and even honeybee-like hairs to sense biological, chemical and nuclear weapons

Official denials and suggestions from entomologists that they were actually dragonflies failed to quell speculation, and Tom Ehrhard, a retired Air Force colonel and expert on unmanned aerial craft, told the Daily Telegraph at the time that 'America can be pretty sneaky.'

The following year, the US Air Force unveiled insect-sized spies 'as tiny as bumblebees' that could not be detected and would be able to fly into buildings to 'photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.'

Around the same time the Air Force also unveiled what it called 'lethal mini-drones' based on Leonardo da Vinci's blueprints for his Ornithopter flying machine, and claimed they would be ready for roll out by 2015.

That announcement was five years ago and, since the U.S. military is usually pretty cagey about its technological capabilities, it raises the question as to what it is keeping under wraps.

The University of Pennsylvania GRASP Lab recently show ed off drones that swarm, a network of 20 nano quadrotors flying in synchronized formations.

The SWARMS goal is to combine swarm technology with bio-inspired drones to operate 'with little or no direct human supervision' in 'dynamic, resource-constrained, adversarial environments.'

However, it is most likely the future of hard-to-detect drone surveillance will mimic nature.

Research suggests that the mechanics of insects can be reverse-engineered to design midget machines to scout battlefields and search for victims trapped in rubble.

Scientists have taken their inspiration from animals which have evolved over millennia to the perfect conditions for flight.

Nano-biomimicry MAV design has long been studied by DARPA, and in 2008 the U.S. government's military research agency conducted a symposium discussing 'bugs, bots, borgs and bio-weapons.'

Researchers have now developed bio-inspired drones with bug eyes, bat ears, bird wings, and even h oneybee-like hairs to sense biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

And the U.S. isn't the only country to have poured money into spy drone miniaturisation. France has developed flapping wing bio-inspired microdrones.

The Netherlands BioMAV (Biologically Inspired A.I. for Micro Aerial Vehicles) developed a Parrot AR Drone last year - which is now available in the U.S. as a 'flying video game'.

Not so tiny but a good spy: A ShadowHawk drone with SWAT team members

Not so tiny but a good spy: A ShadowHawk drone with SWAT team members

Zoologist Richard Bomphrey, of Oxford University, has conducted research to generate new insight into how insect wings have evolved over the last 350 million years.

He said last year: 'Nature has solved the problem of how to design miniature flying machines.

'By learning those lessons, our findings will make it possible to aerodynamically engineer a new breed of surveillance vehicles that, because they are as small as insects and also fly like them, completely blend into their surroundings.'

The insect manoeuvrability which allows flies the ability to land precisely and fly off again at speed may one day prove a crucial tactical advantage in wars and could even save lives in disasters.

The military would like to develop tiny robots that can fly inside caves and barricaded rooms to send back real-time intelligence about the people and weapons inside.

Dr Bomphrey said: 'Scary spider robots were featured in Michael Crichton's 1980s film Runaway - but our robots will be much more scaled down and look more like the quidditch ball in the Harry Potter films, because of its ability to hover and flutter.

'The problem for scientists at the moment is that aircrafts can't hover and helicopters can't go fast. And it is impossible to make them very small.

'With insects you get a combination of both these assets in miniature. And when you consider we have been flying for just over a hundred years as opposed to 350 million years, I would say it is they who have got it right, and not us!'

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

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Sick, power hungry megalomaniacs create a sick, pathetic society.

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Imagine what a different world this would have been if after WW2, Stalin was removed and a democracy flourished in what became the Soviet Union. Imagine what a world this would be if every country promoted democracy with HUMAN RIGHTS as a CORE value.

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How did these animals survive while they were supposedly evolving these features? What survival benefit would there have been in possessing partially-evolved wings and other structures over millions of years, even if they could evolve by chance? Limbs evolving into wings over millions of years wouldn't be useful anymore as limbs nor as wings. Instead of aiding survival, such an interim scenario would be a threat to a species survival. Please read my popular Internet articles: NATURAL LIMITS OF EVOLUTION, WAR AMONG EVOLUTIONISTS (2nd Edition), ANY LIFE ON MARS CAME FROM EARTH, and HOW FORENSIC SCIENCE REFUTES ATHEISM Babu G. Ranganathan* (B.A. theology/biology) *As a religion and science writer, I have had the privilege of being recognized in the 24th edition of Marquis "Who's Who In The East," and I have given successful lectures refuting Darwinian macro-evolution before evolutionist science faculty and students at colleges.

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I get the queasy feeling that humanity is rushing headlong to "become Borg." Ultra-small drones = 24/7 surveillance (reminding me of Baxter and Clarke's The Light of Other Days), the complete end of all privacy, and eventually central control of all thinking, feeling, and activity by some Obama-esque elitist who has his finger on a "Tantalus field" kind of "kill switch" to go along with his personal kill list, letting the narcissist Putz-in-Chief maintain a feeling that he has the power of the lightning bolt as he looks at me and says, "Call me a Putz-in-Chief, will you? Well - Die!"

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Who cares about Dan Brown anyway. This is the real deal.

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Has anyone asked why one society needs to inflict hellfire missiles, drones, spies, miniature hypodermic mosquitos, spying helicopters, bands of armed mercenaries, supersonic jets, aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, outer-space spy satellites, black hole prisons, waterboarding and the suspension of civil rights, spending trillions of dollars each year when other societies - like Iceland for example - live quite peacefully without ever once invading or threatening to roast alive whole cities, skinning tens of thousands of innocent people with nuclear ovens? - simon, london, 20/6/2012 14:19 --- Well, its simple Simon (pun intended!) But if YOU don't know the answer, just relax and enjoy your mind in neutral, thumb up rectum existence - and maybe in a more lucid moment, thank God that while you live a care-free life, there are those out there doing their duty and laying their lives on the line to keep evil in all its manifestations far from your door! No thanks expected!

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What a perfect way to spread any kind of biological toxins! That is, besides infecting a group of people and sending them all to the world's airports and train stations. What will these clever people think up next?

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Understand there is a new start-up company called CYBERDINE SYSTEMS that's all about building drones robots with almost human intelligence. I understand they are to build a defense network called SKYNET. Be interesting to see how far they can develop their

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A few others have already said it, but what happens when these things come equipped with poisonous stings? As other have said, more worrisome would be when government tries to put chips in us all. Getting rid of cash and forcing the implants unless one is willing to forgo all aspects of modern society would be the ultimate in tracking and control. For that matter, why not forgo the chip and make it something like a watch or necklace that must be worn at all times and not only broadcasts location but audio and maybe video real time. That way not only would they know where you are but who you are with and what you are saying.

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Understand there is a new start-up company called CYBERDINE SYSTEMS that's all about building drones robots with almost human intelligence. I understand they are to build a defense network called SKYNET. Be interesting to see how far they can develop their "machines" .. Could they possibly every become "Self Aware" ?? Nah, doubt machines will ever get that smart... but who knows what the future holds..... RAS

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