Robotic fruit flies

Researchers at University of California, Berkeley are stumbling around drunk on champagne after conducting the first successful trial flight of a tiny robotic 'fly'. Modelled on a fruit fly, the robot has a wingspan of 30mm and uses a combination of

Researchers at University of California, Berkeley are stumbling around drunk on champagne after conducting the first successful trial flight of a tiny robotic 'fly'. Modelled on a fruit fly, the robot has a wingspan of 30mm and uses a combination of flapping and rotational movement of its wings to fly.

On its initial tethered trial flight, the fly managed a distance of 30cm,
which is quite large considering the scale of the actual machine. The
UC Berkeley researchers hope to achieve untethered reliable flight
sometime in 2003.

Funded by the US Department of Defense, it is hoped that the robot fly will eventually be capable of carrying out covert tactical battlefield
surveillance. Potential applications outside of the military are potentially
limitless and include rescue operations, exploration, law enforcement,
espionage and, perhaps the most exciting capability of all, hovering
behind the CRTs of 13-year-old Counter-Strike players to see if they are
using that damned wall hack.

--Brad Webb