Posted by Bob
(here)
Ever hear the expression a "Fly on the wall" listening to a juicy conversation?
DARPA says absolutely the right way to develop technology - "for dangerous missions, such as hazardous monitoring and emergency relief operations"
Can't you just see one of these bugs traveling in-between downed I-Beams, rubble, looking for survivors during a major disaster? DARPA scientists most certainly feel one of the mosquito-sized drones will certainly be able to do the job - considering the autonomous AI that will be controlling the micro-engines driving it.
Have they solved the battery power issue? Typical drones run for mere moments for that sized payload, a micro-hand-held drone a couple inches across runs for about 3 minutes before crashing.
What breakthrough in advanced power is in the Mosquito allowing to have a long duration mission?
Does it leach power from the environment in some way?
awarded two contracts over the past two weeks for the SHort-Range Independent Microrobotic Platforms (SHRIMP) project.
SHRIMP, sponsored by the DARPA Microsystems Technology Office, is developing new actuators, multi-mode power for future untethered insect-scale robots -- also called micro-to-milli robotic platforms.
DARPA on Monday awarded a potential $3.6 million contract to Honeywell International Inc. Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) division in Golden Valley, Minn.; and a potential $1.3 million contract on 25 Feb. 2019 to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., for separate technology thrusts of the SHRIMP program.
Key drivers are mobility, manipulation, actuator material, power storage and endurance, conversion circuitry, and engineering for extremely small size, weight, and power (SWaP).
Is the US the only country doing this? UK has it's own "flying bug" program
from RT.com
Insect drones are also called micro air vehicles (MAVs) or micro-mechanical flying insects (MFIs).
These would be considered the cutting edge of drone technologies.
Drones were pioneered bymilitary research labs.
After about 10 years of refinement, drones now account for about half the US Air Force fleet of flying vehicles.
The police forces around the world are major users.
Tokyo police for instance have their own dedicated drone unit.
If there is an unauthorized flying drone that is "caught", the police drone assault craft which are equipped with nets, scoop unauthorized flying objects from the skies.
Currently, the US FAA has registered 100,000 ‘non-hobbyist’ drones.
As early as 2015, some 400,000 drones were sold to civilians as "toys and amusements".
INSECT flying technique:
The wings move within a figure 8 rotation.
A smaller topside wing (like dragonflies) in the form of miniature wing flaps, whips the air flowing over the top of an insect’s wing into a field of curling vortices.
A vortex acts like the air stream from a propeller, and is critical for hovering. The vortex action then provides the lift and when oriented, the motion in any direction.
Early on DARPA was working with slightly larger drones - The CICADA (Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft) can be dropped in a swarm from an airplane, and guided by on-board GPS to listen in on enemy activity.
Fly on the wall, maybe in the not too distant future that mosquito buzzing around one's head isn't an organic bug, but a mechanical drone - if DARPA has it's way.