Message posted by Robert on December 10, 2008 at 10:52:12 PST:
Watch out for flying insects near Area 51! "In the push to miniaturize unmanned aerial systems, American military engineers plan to shrink robotic aircraft by 2015 to the proportions of the bird and, by 2030, to the insect. Miniaturized vehicles would allow the military to conduct dangerous intelligence, surveillance and even attack missions without risking personnel. ‘The way we envision it, there would be a bunch of these sent out in a swarm,' says Greg Parker, who helps lead the research at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. ‘If we know there's a possibility of bad guys in a certain building, how do we find out? We think this would fill the void.' Such ‘Micro Aerial Vehicles,' known as MAVs, would fly through the air and inside of buildings, helping the military to identify targets with precision. In just half-dozen years, the military envisions flying bird-sized robots into cities, where they would perch on power lines or building ledges. Though such vehicles would use propulsion systems to fly, designers would incorporate flapping motions to disguise the robots. ‘We think the flapping is more so people don't notice it,' he says. ‘They think it's a bird.' Developers say they next want to build an aerial vehicle with a one-inch wingspan."
From: http://www.auvsi.org/news/index.cfm#News1833
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