You ever look out the window on a quite summer day and see a beautiful hummingbird hovering over a blooming flower? From now on when that happens you better duck and cover because a laser-guided bomb may not be far behind.
In partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (you may remember them from when they invented the internet), Aerovironment Inc. has developed a tiny remote control drone that looks and flies like a hummingbird but carries a camera that can send images back to US troops in the field. The similarity to a real hummingbird they achieved is both impressive and alarming. If you have trouble imagining the military application of this technology then the CG movie int he middle of this report will spell it out for you:
No word on what animals will be singled out by DARPA for biomimicry next. I’m keeping a close eye on the raccoons outside my apartment for any signs of telephoto lenses or rocket launchers just in case.
Via the Associated Press
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