Robotic Hummingbird

[wierdscience]

Kinda cool,kinda scary the robotic Hummingbird-


http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-...ght-video.html

[vpt]

Thats cool!

[Ken_Shea]

Pitiful video but it was still pretty neat, someone did their homework on that item.

[J Tiers]

Excellent technical design.

Does NOT fly at all like a hummingbird. As-is it would stick out like a sore thumb if you know anything about them.

But that problem no doubt can be attacked. This is a first try.

However, they are stuck with the way that one flies to a large extent, due to the camera orientation. No camera, no control, and if it flies more like the actual bird, it would be pointing the camera at the ground in high speed flight, as in travel to the target.

[ikdor]

Cool.

But I like this one even better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_qaH...eature=related

And it does autonomous flight and obstacle avoidance as well

Igor

[lazlo]

Does NOT fly at all like a hummingbird. As-is it would stick out like a sore thumb if you know anything about them.

11 minute endurance

I just showed my 7 year old daughter the video and she said "that doesn't look at all like a hummingbird. And it's way too big to be a hummingbird."

It's a DARPA small-business contract for a portable espionage unit.
I wonder if DARPA knows that hummingbirds only live in the Americas, so a giant styrofoam hummingbird would stick out in the middle east

[rotate]

I feel like we're ushering in a new era of robotics and AI. It's as if all the necessary technologies and innovation are converging to finally make something like an intelligent being that can act autonomously with programmed intent.

As Ken Jennings has now famously stated, " I for one welcome our new computer overlords".

[lazlo]

There's really no artificial intelligence associated with the hummingbird. It's simply a fancy remote controlled helicopter.

Now the IBM Power7 farm crushing the Jeopardy champions -- that was pretty interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLdkJpAtt1I

[oil mac]

Every kid will want one, What will happen if Sarah Palin gets a batch of them O.M.G..

[J Tiers]

11 minute endurance

And? So?

There actually are bigger-than-that hummingbirds. And, since they kill themselves on our front door glass, flying into buildings may not be totally silly, just odd.

But there are similar-sized moths, which might make a great deal more sense, as there is range for insects all over..... perhaps "bugging" Hugo Chavez' palace with flying cockroaches.

Cockroaches would be the real deal. I believe there are species everywhere... fly to the location, land , crawl in..... be a "fly on the wall".

If the locals try to take a bite, well, they will find out some things