So remember when I said that such inventions would soon make their way in real life? Well, ladies and gentlemen, that time is now. The researchers at the Micro-Aviary at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base have been hard at work at fitting walls with super-sensitive motion capture sensors that will be able to track the position of a helicopter or small plane “within about a tenth of an inch.” Talk about precise.

The information from the sensors are then used to create ”very, very small flapping-wing vehicles,” says Greg Parker, who’s a part of the research team.

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There have been no officially released images or photos of the insect drones, although I doubt the military will be making them available anytime soon as they’re bound to be classified stuff.

[via Oh Gizmo!]

The robot is called the GroundBot and it’s made by the Swedish firm Rotundus. It’s a remote-controlled, all-weather 2-foot sphere that can go through snow, mud and sand, and even roll uphill. It supplies a live feed to its operator via a pair of cameras. The operator sees the images in 3D on a remote screen. It comes with knobby treads for all terrain action or without, which is perfect on a runway.

The surveillance sphere is currently undergoing trials with the Swedish Defense Force for use in airports and other areas, like ports, that need this kind of mobile surveillance. It could also be used in urban mapping, remote terrain exploration, and post-disaster search and rescue operations.

For now, the GroundBot can only reach speeds of 6mph, so it’s not hard to outrun. As the technology improves, it will most likely get faster. I can foresee swarms of these things roaming the streets.

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[via BLDGBLOG]

Lockheed Martin has unveiled a new remote controlled drone based on the design of the maple seed. The Samarai drone is very compact and lightweight. It has two moving parts and camera on it and can fly using a remote control or a tablet app. Test flights for the drone took it up to about 30-feet in elevation, and proved that the concept works.

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The drone can hover like a helicopter and can take off vertically in tight spots. It’s small enough to be deployed from a backpack and the pilot can launch the craft by throwing it like a boomerang. The thought is that the drone could some day be used by military and police to see what is going on over a wall, or in other hard to reach locations.

[via Navy Times]

The app works with the Logitech Alert security system, which starts at $300 and goes up from there. The app also allows you to view stuff that was previously recorded, thanks to Alert Web and Mobile Commander, two other Logitech services. The complete system will be able to stream 720p HD video including sound. It’s perfect to spy on your pets or to see what the kids are up to. Seriously though, it could be good to have this, especially if you spend a lot of time at work.

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The app itself is free and you can watch a live video at no charge. However, video recording is a premium service that costs $79.99 (USD).

[via Ubergizmo]

The DraganFlyer X8 has 7 configurations, including the base model, which already has the carbon-fiber blades, brushless motor, landing gear, OLED video remote controller, GPS, batteries, case and such. The other configurations are Photography/HD Video, HD Video, IP Video, Low light video w/onboard DVR, Infrared video w/ onboard DVR, and Emergency Services. Check this page for the full list of specs and options.

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Note that the pre-configured models are not fixed; you can add (but not subtract) features as long as you have the funds. So how much funds are we talking about? The base model of the DraganFlyer X8 can be yours for $32,165 (USD). I’m guessing you just thought, “Oh. So it won’t be mine then.”

[DraganFly]

These are basically tiny flying spy cams that can attach to walls, climb them, and even hang onto concrete. Each one weighs a feather-light 4.6 grams and Mirko says that these robots would work best in swarms, which is a bad idea in my opinion. Hopefully they’ll never have distributed intelligence and become aware. Then, we’d have a smart swarm ready to take over Earth and watch our every move.

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Joking aside, these robots could aid in a variety of situations, from searching through rubble for survivors and aiding rescuers in disaster areas to military reconnaissance. Or they could just watch everyone doing everything, then post it to a massive searchable social video site. Now that sounds more like it.

[via DVice]

Designed by Sweden’s Humans Since 1982, the Surveillance 100 doesn’t capture video at all. Instead, the head of each one of these security “cameras” is actually a lighting fixture. While this could be the coolest lamp design ever, I’m not sure that it’ll make your guests feel comfortable sitting on the couch, as they might be just a little intimidated by it. (Especially if you decide to hide a tiny video camera inside each lamp). Ironically, none of the available photos seem to show the lights turned on, so these really could just be video cameras.

Want one? The limited edition Surveillance 100 can be found over at Generate Limited. Only 100 of these will be made, and the pricing is “available on request”, so you know what that means – you’d better start cracking open your piggy banks and IRAs if you want one.

Researchers at North Carolina State University are developing a micro-aerial vehicle (MAV) built with a body structure that mimics a bat. These pint-sized flying bat-bots could be used for unmanned surveillance, military operations, exploration and rescue/recovery missions. Student researcher Gheorghe Bunget and Dr. Stefan Seelecke designed the robo-bat to flap its wings like a bat, and extensively studied the way real bats fly in designing their creation.

The teensy mechanical chiroptera weighs in at only about 1/6th of an ounce, and is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. And the best part – they’re working on giving the bat “metal muscles” created from “smart materials”. Can I get some too? Construction of the final, functional bat is still underway, but I’m hopeful we’ll see one of these take flight in the not too distant future. In the mean time, you’ll just have to settle for one of these.

[NCSU Press Release via FoxNews]

It turns out that a team from Sony and the University of Alabama are working on an imaging system that can capture a huge area with a single camera. The imaging system would actually be built up from a large array of light-sensitive chips, all placed at in the focal plane of a large multiple lens system. The end result doesn’t look that much different than the complex eye of an insect.

One major advantage of a single camera approach is that near real time images could be transmitted to ground personnel, without the overhead of joining multiple images together. Also, this approach would allow for recording sequential images (the current design could support a rate of up to 4 frames per second).

According to the team’s recently published patent application, the camera could image an area of up to 10 square kilometers from a 7.5 kilometer altitude. The camera’s gigapixel resolution would allow it to capture images at a precision of up to 50 centimeters per pixel from that height.

[via New Scientist]