Is it a Mosquito?No. It is an insect spy drone for urban areas in production, financed by none other than the US Government. It can be controlled from a distance and is outfitted with a camera and a mic.
It can land on you, and may potentially be able to extract a DNA sample or leave monitoring nanotechnology on your skin. These drones are capable of flying through an open window and can attach to your clothing and patiently wait for you to hang your coat at home. The next generation of surveillanceResearch is currently being undertaken on a scientific/military level, for development of micro-air vehicles (MAVs), which are tiny flying objects intended to go places that can't be (safely) reached by humans or other types of equipment. One of the principal military applications envisioned for MAVs is the gathering of intelligence (through the surreptitious use of cameras, microphones, or other kinds of detectors ); one of the more intense applications posited for such devices is that they might eventually be used as"swarm weapons" which could be launched en masse against enemy forces. Some efforts in MAV research have entailed trying to mimic birds or flying insects to attain flight capabilities not achievable through other means of aerial propulsion. As early as 2007, a bug-like MAV model with a 3 cm wingspan was exhibited at a robotics convention. After that, in 2008, the U.S. Air Force released a simulated video revealing MAVs regarding the size of bumblebees. In 2012, engineers at Johns Hopkins University were studying the mechanics behind butterfly flight to “help small airborne robots mimic those maneuvers.” "The specific mosquito-like thing pictured above is, but only a conceptual mock-up of a design for a MAV, not a photograph of a real working device" in production." And although taking DNA samples or inserting tracking devices under people's skin is MAV software that may be possible possibilities appear to be speculative fiction rather than reality. Some have claimed that the U.S. government has not only studied and developed insect-like MAVs but for several years has been secretively employing them for national surveillance purposes: The US government was accused of developing robotic insect spies amid reports of bizarre objects hovering in the air protests. The Government Denies EverythingNo government agency has admitted to growing spy drones, but private organizations and official have confessed that they are trying. But protestations of innocence have failed to kill speculation of government involvement after a handful of sightings of the objects. Vanessa Alarcon, a college student who was working at a rally in the American capital, told the Washington Post: "I heard someone say: Oh my God, look at those!” Vanessa continues: '"I look up, and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?'. These little drones looked like helicopters that were small or dragonflies. But I mean, those are not insects." Bernard Crane, who attended the same event, said that he had "never seen anything like it in my life." He added: "They were big for dragonflies. I thought: “Is that mechanical or is that alive?” The episode has similarities with an alleged sighting in the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York when one peace march participant posted on an internet forum that "a jet-black dragonfly hovering about 10 ft off the ground, precisely in the middle of 7th Avenue". Entomologists imply that the items are indeed dragonflies. Jerry Louton, an expert at the National Museum of Natural History, said that these were some large, impressively-decorated dragonflies that sighted in Washington that "can knock your socks off." Science Fiction or Reality?Others maintain the challenges with creating flying robots still are yet to be overcome: The challenges of producing robotic insects are daunting, and many experts doubt that models that are working even exist. "If you find something, let me know," said Gary Anderson of the Defense Department's RRTO (Rapid Reaction Technology Office). Getting from bird size to insect size isn't a simple matter of creating everything smaller. Ronald Fearing, a roboticist at Berkeley, is also not convinced: "You can't make a conventional drone of metal and ball bearings and only shrink the design down," For starters, the rules of aerodynamics change at small scales, to get a MAV to fly you need flight control systems that are precise -- an enormous engineering challenge. Scientists have only recently come to understand how insects fly. Even when the technical hurdles are overcome, fliers that are insect-size will always be risky investments. "They can get eaten by a bird, or caught in a spider web," Professor Fearing said. To learn more about these and other kind of drones, visit BuyBestQuadcopter for more information.
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