Micro aerial vehicles

Micro aerial vehicles

"Micro aerial vehicles" - no larger than a common house fly - are currently being developed by the US military and could enter mass production later this decade.*

These machines could be used in spying missions, recording and transmitting audio-visual information. An individual robot would serve as a literal "fly on the wall" - equipped with miniature cameras, microphones, modem and GPS. Many terrorist cells could be infiltrated thanks to this radical new technology.

One of the major technical hurdles will be creating sufficient battery power in such a small object, as well as keeping them light enough to remain airborne. Advances in nanotechnology may solve this problem. Together with improvements in computing power, this would allow circuitry and components to be packed more closely.