Robotic Insect Flies

This, like general autonomous robotics, is a long predicted development. Small scale flying robots. I glean from the article there is still much to do to make these useful, especially with regard to power sources and range. It is though a first step. Surveillance is the obvious application. Robotic Insect Takes Off or the First Time Researchers at Harvard have created a robotic fly that could one day be used for covert surveillance and detecting toxic chemicals. In a broader sense these kinds of systems could be used as swarms of cooperating elements, used to solve a problem that involves delivering sensors to a location and reacting intelligently. And of course, the implications could be scary. This article emphasizes the mechanical difficulty of creating such a device. Early on you would expect there to be examples of remotely controllable systems, rather than autonomous capabilities.