Herself’s Artificial Intelligence

Researchers have a working robotic fly. However, despite news stories of spying I can find no references to cameras or other spy equipment embedded in the flies so no need to panic yet.

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are building a minuscule robot guaranteed to give new meaning to the old phrase, “fly on the wall.”

Known affectionately as “robofly,” the gadget is exactly what its name implies: a flying robot about the size of a housefly. It even looks a bit like a fly, although it will have four wings instead of two and one glassy eye instead of two beady ones.

Uncle Sam, who is bankrolling the project to the tune of $2.5 million and wants to see robofly airborne by 2004, will add the flying robot to its espionage toy box.

“The potential application of a robot based on a fly might be, in an urban environment, clandestine surveillance and reconnaissance,” said Teresa McMullen of the Office of Naval Research. . . [ read more Spy fly - Tiny winged robot to mimic nature's fighter jets ]

Scientists in England have a robot that powers itself eating flies so you can just get one of those to keep your home free of robotic flies.

r Chris Melhuish and his Bristol-based team hope the robot, called EcoBot II, will one day be sent into zones too dangerous for humans, potentially proving invaluable in military, security and industrial areas.

Melhuish, who is director of the Intelligent Autonomous Systems Lab at the UWE, told CNN that the EcoBot II was a result of a quest for an intelligent robot that could function without human supervision.

“That means they need energy. It is one thing to have a robot getting its energy from a household socket, or maybe from the factory floor, but it is another thing when the robot goes outside buildings,” he said. [ read more Fly eating robot powers itself ]

But if you don’t have a fly eating robot — fear not and remove the tinfoil hat; Endgadget is reporting hawks are hunting down WowWee Dragonfly bots. I’m thinking if you are concerned about fly bots spying on you you just need to attract a few fly eating birds to your yard.

More information:
Robotic fly to descend on New York
Robotic fly gets its buzz
Tinker, Tailor, Robot, Fly