How Spy Flies Will Work The U.S. Department of Defense is spending millions of dollars to develop tiny robotic flyers, called micro air vehicles (MAVs) that will be able to buzz over enemy territory nearly unnoticed by the enemy troops below. Few would even look twice at these dime-sized flying robots.They are the perfect way to keep soldiers out of harm’s way during reconnaissance missions. Today, gathering reconnaissance during battle typically involves putting either small teams of soldiers or large aircraft in harm’s way. At the same time, satellite imagery is not immediately accessible by a ground soldier. The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding several research teams to develop MAVs no larger than 6 inches (15 cm) in length, width and height. These tiny aircraft will be an order of magnitude smaller than any unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed to date. One class of these MAVs is being designed to mimic the flying motions of certain insects, including flies, bees and dragonflies. Keep read to learn how these bug-like MAVs work (which involves understanding how flies fly, how machines can be built to mimic their movements and where these tiny aerial devices will be deployed), and how we might even see them on Mars one day. Photo courtesy Jason Spingarn-Koff: A model of a micromechanical flying insect sitting in the palm of a Berkeley researcher’s hand

How Spy Flies Will Work

The U.S. Department of Defense is spending millions of dollars to develop tiny robotic flyers, called micro air vehicles (MAVs) that will be able to buzz over enemy territory nearly unnoticed by the enemy troops below. Few would even look twice at these dime-sized flying robots.They are the perfect way to keep soldiers out of harm’s way during reconnaissance missions. Today, gathering reconnaissance during battle typically involves putting either small teams of soldiers or large aircraft in harm’s way. At the same time, satellite imagery is not immediately accessible by a ground soldier.

The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding several research teams to develop MAVs no larger than 6 inches (15 cm) in length, width and height. These tiny aircraft will be an order of magnitude smaller than any unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed to date. One class of these MAVs is being designed to mimic the flying motions of certain insects, including flies, bees and dragonflies.

Keep read to learn how these bug-like MAVs work (which involves understanding how flies fly, how machines can be built to mimic their movements and where these tiny aerial devices will be deployed), and how we might even see them on Mars one day.

Photo courtesy Jason Spingarn-Koff: A model of a micromechanical flying insect sitting in the palm of a Berkeley researcher’s hand

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Tags: science robotics defence MAVs insects robots machines flies UAVs DARPA spies Department of Defense DOD