Written on May 5, 2008 – 9:34 am | by Bogdan Alex |
The US Army always finds some inventive ways to make use of robots. No, they haven’t yet made android soldiers or cyborgs, they only stick with the insects for the moment. Swarms of insects.

The latest military bots come in the form of flying metal thingies and creeping bugs, designed to creep into caves, bunkers and other hostile areas to stealthily grab intel on the terrorists hiding within. BAE Systems has just been awarded $38 million by the Army Research Lab to head up the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology project to develop the robo-insects. Check out this promo clip.



Thus, BAE is set to develop a "autonomous, multifunctional collection of miniature intelligence-gathering robots" which will be able to reach places "too inaccessible or dangerous for humans." As you can se in the clip, soldiers would be able to deploy the bots and gain a tactical advantage in dangerous situations, or they could as well record evidence.

BAE says that the robo-insects won’t be actually used any time soon, as all the science and engineers involved in this project face an extraordinary number of scientific and technical obstacles to be overcome. You can give them a hand, if you happen to know things about small-scale aeromechanics, propulsion, sensors, navigation and ambulation.