Military Builds Robotic Insects
January 24th, 2007Explosive payloads coming soon.
Via: Wired:
If you feel something crawling on your neck, it might be a wasp or a bee. Or it might be something much more dangerous.
Israel is developing a robot the size of a hornet to attack terrorists. And although the prototype will not fly for three years, killer Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, are much closer than that.
British Special Forces already use 6-inch MAV aircraft called WASPs for reconnaissance in Afghanistan. The $3,000 WASP is operated with a Gameboy-style controller and is nearly silent, so it can get very close without being detected. A new development will reportedly see the WASP fitted with a C4 explosive warhead for kamikaze attacks on snipers. One newspaper dubbed it “The Talibanator.”
Posted in Rise of the Machines | Top Of Page
As a subscriber, I’ve noticed that Wired tends to embrace concepts that are not yet truly workable….much like Popular Science or Popular Mechanics.
However, on the same vein, I offer:
‘Dahlgren demonstrates electromagnetic rail gun’
‘Missile punch at bullet prices’
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/012007/01172007/251373
It’s true, Wired tends to do that. But in this case, the stuff is showing up on the battle field. The exploding robots will be killing people long before the rail guns.