Robot hummingbird passes flight tests (w/ Video)

That's absolutely sick!

"The hummingbird appearance is intended to disguise the bot, although it would look decidedly out of place and would attract attention in most places in the world since hummingbirds are not found outside of the Americas."

"Hey, Habib, does that hummingbird look suspicious to you?"
"You're right... the feeder isn't in this room, it's in the interrogation room down the hall!"

Add a nano-dart and some VX and it's a perfect UAV weapon for hunting down Muslims in Afghanistan. It only takes one droplet and Osama would be no more.

Good thought but only practical if the range is large. We can send attack-hummingbirds out of the windows of vans to kill our prey...

The military obviously won't report the actual range on this... only time will tell

Perhaps the Israeli vulture that the Iranians caught WAS a secret agent!

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give me 6!

Add a nano-dart and some VX and it's a perfect UAV weapon for hunting down Muslims in Afghanistan. It only takes one droplet and Osama would be no more.

While I agree with the Osama sentiment, Muslims are not the enemy. What we need here is the word Islamophobia. Well, perhaps Islamophobic more adequately describes this.

@Conundrum: I am not arguing with a four-year old who gets all his info from paranoiac loud-mouths. Please learn to think for yourself before you try to engaged me in a debate.

@Conumdrum by your logic, we should deem all christians terrorists and "the enemy" because Timothy McViegh was christian.

And to extend that, we should deem all subscribers of any religion to be a terrorist because there is likely a bad seed in history that subscribed to each religious belief.

Grow up, dude. Learn to call a terrorist a terrorist. What religion they claim to subscribe to is irrelevant.

Unfortunately, I am afraid the real-world truth is somewhere in between the above arguments. It seems that violence against infidels (all outsiders) is ingrained into most Muslim societies. Christians (in my part of the world at least) are taught to be tolerant - or at least, not out to kill - people of other religions.

So, there is a difference. In my view, more Muslim leaders need to step up and voice to their followers that they are against violence (jihad). Otherwise, it is hard for real thinking people to put Muslims in the same category (as a whole) as other religions.

well, there is no wrong or right here. It's amazing to me that a religion that holds dear the same people, (abraham, moses, noah, etc....... ) and all three stem from the same belief in the same God, could ever consider the other as "infidel". "Our" God teaches love and tolerance.

Man with that kind of spy technology why would anyone want to be at war?

"Our" God teaches love and tolerance.

[hypocritical heresy]
My ghod is on to your "God's" lies. You just wait, all will be come clear in 1998...
[/hypocritical heresy]
Joking aside, (yes, I consider all religion including my own a joke) I think this is an impressive little robot. I'm more impressed by the robot snake from the Biorobotics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University though. That thing could be awesome for search and rescue in collapsed buildings from an earthquake or similar disaster.

Now available in 6 designer colors from Assassins 'R Us. Only $29.95 plus tax (poisons sold separately).

Order NOW, and get a free "Nano-Nuke" warhead with r-6 detonator! Act NOW, and get Rocky the Flying Warhead at 1/2 price! Robot Wars will never be the same!

Now the need arises, how do we defend 500 Minuteman missiles, 24 missile subs, and maybe 200 bombers from such a weapon. How small can they be made? How will a cloud of them be dealt with around a missile silo? Or how can they be kept out of and off of a submarine, or out of a bomber? How fast can they be made to go? Can they be self-powered from the vacuum? Can they be programmed to track and kill those authorized to launch? How will deterrence be maintained? How will retaliatory capacity be preserved?

If they added some AI into it so it can fly by itself, maybe to do some reconnaissance, rather than having some soldier steer it at all time, then that might be more interesting. And then have a flock of those birds fly together, this might be even more interesting. Where would that be useful though?

wiyosaya says, "@Conumdrum by your logic, we should deem all christians terrorists and "the enemy" because Timothy McViegh was christian." Thanks for showing what a total moron you are wiyosaya. Timothy McVeigh was raised as a Catholic, but never claimed to be doing anything for his God. That's slightly different than people blowing themselves up right and left and expecting to get to heaven out of it. BTW, I was raised Catholic too, but am an atheist. If I do something bad, does that reflect poorly on all Catholics (most conservative Christians don't even view Catholics as Christians anyway). Of course, being the ignorant fool you are, you probably didn't know that.

wiyosaya:

Muslims ARE our enemies.

Have you been living in a cave for the past few decades?

All of the terrorists were mulsims. All of al-qaeda is muslims, as are hezbollah.

All of the terrorists were also men, and most were bearded. By that logic bearded men are the enemy.

Fear is the enemy.

Fit that thing with a .22 Mag shell, short barrel, and a firing pin and we can start to solve the mideast problems in short order.

Now that's cool!

I'm not the least bit impressed with this inelegant, clumsy and sorrowful imitation of nature. Have you ever seen a real hummingbird fly? It soars and turns at 90 degrees on a dime, hovers silently then whips away at breakneck speed. Most human attempts to engineer naturalistic animal motion are embarrassing. The human powered ornithopter has come closest to natural motion, but not nearly as awe-inspiring as a condor's flight.

Fit that thing with a .22 Mag shell, short barrel, and a firing pin and we can start to solve the mideast problems in short order.

How's a bird going to resolve territorial disputes between different theologies, stabilize economies and introduce a system of democracy that champions human rights, all the while preserving crucial elements of their culture? Oh, you mean killing people.

Wait until you fire it and your bird goes flying back in the opposite direction at the same speed.

I'm not the least bit impressed with this inelegant, clumsy and sorrowful imitation of nature.

Yeah! Fuck em' for even trying! That'll teach them to take the first steps toward success.

@Telekinetic: A billion years of evolution vs. a few centuries of human engineering, and only a few decades of real progress.

Dude. Lighten up. We monkeys are doing pretty well for ourselves.

@iscroft:
I remember a plastic winged, wind-up toy bird for sale, probably made in China, about FOUR decades ago
that set my heart aflutter next to this lead balloon of a bird.

I think they should make this nano bird into the likeness of Tinker bell. The Tinker bell of death! Imagine jihad-joe sitting there with his suicide belt getting ready to off some women and children in the name of allah, and all of a sudden Tinker bell flies in and hovers overhead. How sweet...You smile...She sprinkles you with a little fairy dust, you convulse and die. Lovely. The hummingbird of death is cool too, but I think the Tinker bell death fairy is going to do a better job of throwing them off guard.

Fear is the enemy.

I heard it was the mind killer.

So why is it the pentagon is giving a company specifications to design something that will be out of place anywhere besides America? Don't they already have enough ways to surveil the citizens of this once great REPUBLIC?

DARPA has the best toys. :-D

Its shocking to still see some here who think that because of a minoraty of radical ISLAMIC extreamists they feel the need to paint anyone who is Muslim an evil terrorist. I guess by that logic all Catholic Irish are or were a member of the IRA!

Telekenetic = troll = ignore

@powerup- DARPA definitely has the best toys! And if were smart, we should realize that they probably have smaller, more perfect, and much more secreter flying spy drones already in operation. They wouldnt show us this toy when it has such obvious future spying potential unless it was just a dumb version of the real thing. Funny though, the guy who built it probably thinks he was the first. Then they take his good ideas and use them to make the secret drones better!

@Mercury01:
"and if were smart"

That's an oxymoron, moron.

It's a freekin remote control bird. Simplicity at it's best. What a bunch of cynical application thoughts. Don't let the boogie man get you.
All this couldn't have been done without MadCharles, worlds first karate robot. State of the art for 1973 and the gateway to this hummingbird. madcharles.com Simplicity..

Might I make a suggestion to the team of techs who designed this?
Build a nano robot and house it in the shell of an indigenous species found in the Middle East (saving the Northern Bald Ibis from extinction is probably the top species priority for the Middle East) and send them over there.
I can just imagine the tranquil moment when some crazed Muslim terrorist sees one - "Allah be praised for the resurrection of this great bird that has been decimated by the non-believing Infidels, then as he kneels on the ground to give thanks - "KABOOM!"
Next stop Paradise for him.
Bud Light Moment for me. Cheers!

Religion does not kill people.... Sociopaths who want to kill with justification will continue to 'flock' to religions that enable them to do so. Fear and hatred is the message being 'preached' and so it is also be the source of that message. Christ Jesus taught love, humility and sacrifice, ever since then His 'church' has consistently screwed it up, causing much pain in the process because men seek to replace God (sound familiar?) with their knowledge about him.. as opposed to actually fostering a relationship with Him. He is The Source for Light and Life.

"Religion does not kill people"

Where have I heard that before? Oh, right, GUNS don't kill people, PEOPLE kill people. So it's religious people that kill people?

@parsec: Where did you learn logic? Beards have no ideological content. But religions do. Islam has content that compels them, from beginning to end, to treat "infidels" as subhuman and criminals. Christianity's content is "love your enemy" and "preach the gospel" to them.

Religion does not kill people.... Sociopaths who want to kill with justification will continue to 'flock' to religions that enable them to do so. Fear and hatred is the message being 'preached' and so it is also be the source of that message. Christ Jesus taught love, humility and sacrifice, ever since then His 'church' has consistently screwed it up, causing much pain in the process because men seek to replace God (sound familiar?) with their knowledge about him.. as opposed to actually fostering a relationship with Him. He is The Source for Light and Life.

I am fortunate enough to be able to read. I can read the Bible, and I've read violent passages. The Bible may say nice things, but it contains many horrible things too. If you don't see that, you are picking and choosing. So when the church preaches hate, they're just reading the Bible as it's written.

HealingMindN Contributes: ... Rocky the Flying Warhead ...

It doesn't get better than that!!

Religion kills people if the stated tenets of the religion teaches or encourages the followers to murder. Unless that is the case you're gonna have to blame it on something else.

Who really thinks that Tim McVeigh was acting on what he learned in Sunday school when he murdered all those innocent folks in Okla City? Who really thinks that he did what he did because he was following the teachings of the Jesus of the bible? For those who think in these terms I have to question whether they are truly able to clearly think at all. That argument is what they call a Straw-Man or as we down here in Texas call it, a Straw-Dog ... that is to say: Trying to excuse the actions of bad behaviour by presenting other bad behaviour when the supposed' comparison isn't even based on comparative facts.

You got your athiests, your God-fearin', your NRA,
and your all-around self-righteous right here on this site. I'd like to know, are there any anarchists out there that believe that people have the capacity to govern themselves? Y'know, hypothetically, as in an ideal world.

If only the electronics could be hardened enough to use in Chernobyl. People have to endure fatal radiation doses to investigate the status of the hot fuel. I know that the remote control robots they tried to use failed, and they had to use " Bio-robots " for the cleanup. This is much better for exploring than a helicopter. The rotors can catch on obstructions.

Now all they have to do is cover it in fibre optic strands from one side to the other so that it would be for all intents and purposes cloaked.

If you send a robot killer Northern Bald Ibis which is endangered to the middle east and start killing people with it, is not gunna be endangered for long - it is gunna end up extinct pretty quick.

I can't believe I just wrote that.

Do ya'll really think the DOD is developing a robotic spy bird not native to the middle east to spy/attack any Islamic nation? It would be like sending a kangaroo spybot to Russia. Wake up people.

Why would anyone design an ornithopter type drone? Power is at a premium and flapping uses power to raise the wings providing no lift. Lift is only accomplished on the down stroke. Seems inefficient compared to a rotating wing. It isn't going to look like a real bird so disguise is out. Sounds like a waste of money to me, conventional helicopter types are more efficient. Better yet they could use a hybrid lighter than air/helicopter type.

@Conumdrum by your logic, we should deem all christians terrorists and "the enemy" because Timothy McViegh was christian.

Not to get on your list of evil people because I disagree with you, but how many Christians have:
1) Declared Jihad/Holy War on us because of their religious differences?
2) Martyred themselves en-masse to destroy our western culture due to the difference in how we practice our (or not practice any) religion?

Timothy McVeigh did what he did because he didn't like our GOVERNMENT, not our Religion(s). He also didn't go bomb the Taliban, he bombed his own people.

@Conumdrum by your logic, we should deem all christians terrorists and "the enemy" because Timothy McViegh was christian.

Not to get on your list of evil people because I disagree with you, but how many Christians have:
1) Declared Jihad/Holy War on us because of their religious differences?
2) Martyred themselves en-masse to destroy our western culture due to the difference in how we practice our (or not practice any) religion?

Timothy McVeigh did what he did because he didn't like our GOVERNMENT, not our Religion(s). He also didn't go bomb the Taliban, he bombed his own people.

1) A minority of Muslims declared war on us
2) You're an idiot

Have you ever left your mums basement and hung around a Muslim? They are just people, so stop with all the hate, it makes you no better.

EDIT: cool robobird

"The hummingbird appearance is intended to disguise the bot, although it would look decidedly out of place and would attract attention in most places in the world since hummingbirds are not found outside of the Americas."

"Hey, Habib, does that hummingbird look suspicious to you?"
"You're right... the feeder isn't in this room, it's in the interrogation room down the hall!"

Haha.. hilarious. Still, I imagine this is more of a proof of concept and will be applied to smaller insect-like devices. Or maybe this will end up in the toy aisle. Who knows.

Seriously? A robot hummingbird? That's real stealth technology. No one would ever notice it, or think it out of place flying around inside the hallways of a building. And it would be so hard to stop. It might even take a flyswatter to stop it! And, ten minutes of flight time kind of limits it's usefulness.

Now, a mouse robot would make more sense. They're everywhere, and not as obvious as a flying robot.

2) You're an idiot

Have you ever left your mums basement and hung around a Muslim? They are just people, so stop with all the hate, it makes you no better.

Actually yes, when I was in the USAF and deployed to Turkey during the Gulf War. And gee, I'm an idiot, how classy of you. Who said I hated muslims? You're assuming feelings I haven't expressed. Or are people Nazis now for pointing out that certain people attacked and killed fellow countrymen?

Were the Afghans nazis when they killed any Russians they could get their hands on? How about Russian children being killed in Chechnya by terrorists who were fighting the Russians?

But thanks for hanging your agenda around my neck and calling ME an idiot for merely conversing here.

@MorituriMax

I haven't and wouldn't call anyone a Nazi, simply an idiot, nothing over the top. Ignoring the second paragraph because, relevance?

I prefer people to state their actual case than to phrase everything as a question. The reason I called you an idiot was that you were defending Christians for the sake of vilifying Muslims (if you go back in the conversation, that's the root of what's being argued). Also that there are plenty of Christians in America who have declared Islam the enemy, which I hope are in the minority, which would make it a two sided minority.

Also my agenda? I don't really have one, you were just wrong, Christians have tried to wipe out other religions before, the pagans for example.

Also note I didn't call everyone an idiot? so clearly it wasn't for just conversing here. I take it back anyhow, I will just call you wrong instead :] Sorry for calling you an idiot.

Edit out of Interest: Why did you bring up Nazi's so many times? :S

I don't know, maybe because I was born german, my grandparents lived during the time of the Reich and the camps, my parents grew up after they fell out of power and I don't appreciate the undercurrents of political correctness here when people throw around gay fear terms and insult others because they aren't as "smart" as others who keep pointing out how we have to be a kinder gentler group of sheep.

Oh, and why do you keep asking why I "bring up the Nazi's" so "many times" when I brought them up indirectly ONCE?

Oh, and dude? I don't "defend" Christians. I really wish all Religions would just rapture the hell out of here and leave rational people alone. The world would be a better place without anyone who tells anyone else how to live based on their personal invisible friend that knows everything. McVeigh can burn in whatever hell I wish did exist for scum like him, likewise the Jihadists, the Taliban and any other group like them.

gay fear terms

?

@MorituriMax

You actually bought them up twice... but oh well.
It sounds like you have problems, with all the German crap, I never mentioned anything more than "idiot", how was I to know your reaction would have an entire backstory, aha XD

I got called an idiot in a forum.... which brings me back to my parents growing up after the Nazi's... what are you going to call me a Nazi now? :] Baffling.

I agree with disliking religion, though you did falsely defend Christianity over Islam, which was my point, which I explained above.

Oh and idiot isn't a fear term, or a gay fear term. I find your responses to be a little out there, but who would make up such a back story, so, just sorry.

@MorituriMax You actually bought them up twice... but oh well.

No. I didn't. Once. Only once as of your saying I had "kept bringing them up."

Go back. Count. Once. Not twice. Once.

Not to get on your list of evil people because I disagree with you, but how many Christians have:
1) Declared Jihad/Holy War on us because of their religious differences?
2) Martyred themselves en-masse to destroy our western culture due to the difference in how we practice our (or not practice any) religion?

1.) Westboro Baptist Church? Does that count?
2.) I'm pretty sure we can think of several examples of when Christians exterminated populations for the sole reason of not believing in the "right" religion. Perhaps it was not to collapse a Western culture, but it was to alter a culture to a point where it was more "suitable" for their tastes. Plus, I assume many terrorists probably hate the West for political and economic reasons more than theological.

@MorituriMax = You actually asked if it makes you a Nazi, then started asking other questions about if X makes Y a Nazi or something unrelated and baffling. See below:

"Or are people Nazis now for pointing out that certain people attacked and killed fellow countrymen?

Were the Afghans nazis when they killed any Russians they could get their hands on? How about Russian children being killed in Chechnya by terrorists who were fighting the Russians"

I count two uses of the word, as noted and as you disputed wrongly, but it still doesn't make sense how you ended up bringing up Nazi's...

Also you are clearly wrong in what you actually said, but my original point was it is idiotic to even try to attempt saying "oh but Christians have never done this" because, sir, they have :]

As someone once said to me on the internet:
Go back. Count. Twice. Not Once. Twice

I'm pretty sure we can think of several examples of when Christians exterminated populations for the sole reason of not believing in the "right" religion.

Like the Crusades, eh, only a thousand years ago?

I debate this same issue all the time with very educated people on another blog, and when the subject of the latest Muslim atrocity (this week) comes up, the first defense is - well, the Crusades, or the Spanish Inquisition, or did you ever read the Old Testament?

The problem is what is going on TODAY, not centuries ago. Christianity came into the modern world long ago, and their hero preached love. The most violent thing he ever did was toss money-changers out of a temple.

Conversely, much of Islam remains tied to the 7th Century and wants to drag the rest of the world back there with them. Their role model was a warrior and a conqueror, not to mention liking very little girls.

If they didn't happen to be sitting on the West's lifeblood, they'd still be herding goats.

@qeokstr

You're so wrong. The most violent thing "Jesus" did doesn't matter, the followers sure didn't mind violence/killing for over a thousand years. Plus the fact you are saying terrorism = Islam, ignoring what happened in Ireland are we? You are just trying to paint an entire people with one brush. Funny also that previous to the west getting involved, they were doing a lot more than herding goats... you seriously know very little of that part of the world.

Also Christians try to push their agenda all the time, but it isn't the agenda of all Christians, same with Islam and any other religion.

I'm an Atheist, so I don't care if you bad mouth religion, but I find it really stupid trying to argue one over another.

You can't blame religions, just stupid and/or bad people.

Ah think a gaggle o' hens from slashdot somehow migrated over here to spew irrelevant religious nonsense over a real debate; and, like /.'ers they are missing the point. Totally! Like central American aborigines who made wheeled carts for their children to play with yet never used them in their real everyday lives, one poster and the author mentioned that hummingbirds, typically American, would be out of place in the mid-east, for instance. A logical person would get from that the real purpose....domestic use. Send the sucker into banks where criminals are holding hostages. Take a peek at the crazed gunman holed up in some suburban house threatening his wife and kids. Go into public rest area bathrooms to catch tricky masturbators, etc. Track suspect 'couples' on their way to adulturous liasons, etc. All real and valued uses for police and private dicks who do not want to expose themselves to unecessary risks. Now the hummingbird shape makes perfect sense.

"The Tinkerbell of Death"...hehe, good one!

i'd stick it in my cap and call it macaroni

You people are experts in geopolitics, Islamic theology and aircraft design, but please brush up your ornithology. Middle East has sunbirds instead of hummingbirds. They are totally unrelated but look rather similar. Most people can't tell the difference.

ok, I want one of those, they seem amazing. it would be REALLY funny to see my dog and my cat running after that thing haha. God, I wish I had that.. it seems really cool. KEEP IT UP GUYS KEEP THE INSPIRING ENGINEERING COMING ;)

Man with that kind of spy technology why would anyone want to be at war?

EXACTLY! Peace through overwhelming force (mutual destruction technology) or through unoverwhelmable protection (theoretical perfectly opaque shield), it's the only lasting way seeing as new people/beings are being born all the time.
Joe Berlin