Forget robot wolves and missile-deflecting satellites — those things are already becoming old news. Instead, future wars just might revolve around insect-size spy robots.
A recent digest of present-day microbots by US national security magazine The National Interest breaks down the many machines currently in development by the US military and its associates. They include sea-based microdrones, cockroach-style surveillance bots, and even cyborg insects.
Arguably the most refined program to date is the RoboBee, currently being shopped by Harvard’s Wyss Institute. Originally funded by a $9.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation in 2009, the RoboBee is a bug-sized autonomous flying vehicle capable of transitioning from water to air, perching on surfaces, and autonomous collision avoidance in swarms.
The RoboBee features two “wafer-thin” wings that flap some 120 times a second to achieve vertical takeoff and mid-air hovering. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has reportedly taken a keen interest in RoboBee prototypes, sponsoring research into microfabrication technology, presumably for quick field deployments.
In the future, the little bots may very well carry payloads of monitoring equipment like microphones and cameras, though that’s easier said than done at such a minute scale.
Other developments, like the aforementioned cyborg insect, remain in early stages. Researchers have successfully demonstrated the capabilities of these remote-control systems using of a range of insect hosts, from the unicorn beetle to the humble cockroach.
Though DARPA has been funding insect-machine technology since 2006, their practical application is up in the air. Still, researchers are trying to keep up with the times, looking into ways to tune drone swarming algorithms to fit their cyborg creations.
Underwater microrobotics are another area of interest for DARPA. In this case, the application is said to be less mobile, instead focusing on clandestine monitoring of vulnerable underwater infrastructure.
The Interest also points to an alleged “robo-jelly” the agency has in the works, a soft-bodied autonomous drone which can silently glide through coastal waters. How practical this is remains to be seen — jellyfish are notorious drifters, following the ebbs and flows of coastal tides and deep ocean currents.
Last is the cockroach bot, the Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod (DASH) in the works at DARPA’s notorious proving grounds at UC Berkeley. A white paper released by UC Berkeley back in 2009 defines DASH as a 16 gram, 10cm long autonomous robot which maneuvers via six legs powered by a single motor. It’s also capable of surmounting steps greater than its own height, and absorbing significant blows, including falls “from any height.”
According to the Interest, DASH is being developed with an eye toward crush resistance implying a quality-over-quantity approach compared to more agile systems like the RoboBee.
With so many bug-inspired robots coming down the pipeline, not to mention R&D grant money in the mix, it’s probably only a matter of time before at least some of the units make their way out of the lab and into the hands of a three-letter agency — if they haven’t already, that is.
More on microbots: Chinese Military Shows Off Fly-Sized Drones for Covert Ops