Small Robotics for DARPA

Continue to watch the robotics of the very small.  These were predicted long ago, and now emerging.

DARPA's insect-sized SHRIMP robots could aid disaster relief
Meet the tiny, versatile robots built to navigate high-risk environments.   By Katrina Filippidis in Engadget

DARPA's efforts to propel military technology forward often manifest in a diverse fashion, spanning everything from drone submarine development to a biostasis program that aims to buy more time to rescue soldiers on the battlefield. The SHRIMP program, short for SHort-Range Independent Microrobotic Platforms, is another potentially life-saving initiative that is being designed to navigate through hazardous natural disaster zones.

What differentiates SHRIMP from microrobotics limited by SWaP (size, weight and power) constraints is its size. DARPA has managed to shrink the tech down to the size of an insect -- a scale of mm-to-cm. Program manager Dr. Ronald Polcawich says the smaller scale is what gives SHRIMP robots an advantage over larger robots -- which are too large to inspect damaged environments. ... "