Fund A Tiny Robotic Dragonfly

I like Parrot Drone form this European company better. They have been selling all around the world like ice cream. And how can you have a stable camera if the device is flapping away. A small device is nice but will lose a lot of energy needing to balance out. Think about it. A bird can fly thousands of miles. Small insects can not. Especially something that is far heavier then a dragonfly like this device.

A small quadrocopter is far more practical. They arrogantly claim in the video link that no other device can do that. But i have seen micro quadrocopter this size that can pull of far better stunts. Since this dragonfly it`s already in development for years and still doesn`t represent a very workable product it seems a long shot. What i also hate is the part in the video where they pretend to show video images strait from the device. Clearly that`s not from that device something much larger and a much better camera. Fool me once shame on you...

I`m not saying they shouldn`t develop it. But the claims are far to arrogant of what this can do and how great it is. Even showing a virtual police unit. Please give me a break.

To Greenmatrix...

You're mixing two completely different things.

If you want to talk DARPA and DARPA-style (tens of millions worth of) funding then, yes, this is excessively large and unwieldy.

If you want to talk crowdfunded consumer tech, then this is pretty amazing. Compare this to an Amazon-available, smartphone-controlled quadrotor drone. What's discussed in the above brief is a decade ahead of currently available consumer stuff.

Btw...small insects cannot fly thousands of miles? Seriously? Google monarch butterfly.

You also might want to check your spelling. I believe you meant 'straight,' and not 'strait' as in water passage, though your know-it-all mind likely wouldn't allow flexibility for ***king up.

Arrogant? Really? The arrogance is not part of PopSci or the developer.

Geezuz.

@Blowncobra

Insulting me won't help us.

The fact remains that they make all kind of big claimes about a superior device in their video while clearly micro quadcopters have already shown to be much more capable.

Nano quadcopters performance;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2la4pIyXOEQ

And their claimes are not even shown in their video where they show a model hovering a bit while they use 3d graphics for all the outlandish stuff. If that doesn't concern you then i don't know what will. And please don't tell me it's all coming they just have to develop it. No they need a good working prototype before they can go and make big claimes and before they can use that relatively modest amount of money to pay for production costs and marketing costs.

You also say this is 'a decade' ahead but the fact is there are already multiple kind of consumer dragonfly flying devices on the market for years now and so way past this prototype;

Like this older one that has been on the market for over 5 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URwiWH34QpI

Again i also don't say they shouldn't build and sell it. But their claimes are just outlandish and some of it even false. That's not my cup of tea.

@Greenmatrix, you should check out what they are saying .. if you have any knowledge on the subject then read up on Google: Micro Aerial Robots or ornithopters.. apparently these guys have a bunch of papers published too

I am a newbie at RC flyers but I know physics behind wing airfoils.. micro Quad-rotors as you so confidently speak of are good for the limited use they can have... try to make them glide like a bird to save energy and fly longer... they are not lying about it! these guys are on to something unique and novel! I would buy it for its novelty. The research you are showing at Upenn is great, no doubt but it can be extended to these robot-insects too. When they are saying they'll deliver in 2013 and the CAD they've shown is for the system they will deliver.. You must be GULLIBLE enough to want them to show a beaten down prototype and raise the funding that they are trying to achieve to get it aesthetically pleasing.

Also Google: Mesocopter Stanford... they tried to make it smaller but It can't be: "Airfoil physics". They have made a good presentation, hard for us engineers to do.. they have shown what all the open platform is usable for and more.

I have seen the load of Dragonflies you say are already available on amazon and ebay I don't see any resemblance, I wish I was wrong.

This is quite likely the BEST presentation I have seen for something so novel. EVEN if it works half as good as their claims I think its money's worth. Read about Automobiles and how much Sh*t they faced when competing with Horse-buggies to establish themselves.

@ma baby jesus

Yes but after a million dollars from the US air force they still need more money. Lets hope they make it. I just don`t like over promises and fake animations. That`s all. Remember a real Dragon fly ways 10 times less then this thing (1 ounce vs 0.1 ounce). Batteries as well are not yet advanced enough. So what is the flight time of this thing? I don`t see it on their website. Perhaps i`m overlooking it but flight time is the main concern of any flying vehicle. I own a small RC helicopters myself for indoor flight. 150 dollars and flight time is only 8 to 10 minutes. This is especially a concern for use by military or police forces. Short flight times just won`t do.

And why did they use these fake video`s clearly from large fast flying vehicles with superb camera`s to show it off flying across beautiful landscapes. Why don`t they show the device being controlled by a person. Why don`t they talk about it`s flight time.

Why use 3d animation when claiming it`s better then RC helicopters and quadcopters while they could display it in real life with their supposedly finished prototypes. Just so many questions. That`s all. Personally it just seems they want to start making money of a product that is not yet close to anything they claim. I have seen that with so many start-ups. Non the less i do really hope they succeed.

Fund this thing?! Are you kidding me?! This thing should be pulled off by the government immediately and banned for now. I can see this thing being used in all kinds of mischief - people spying on other people. Maybe not in the current itineration but just wait 4 or 5 years from now when the battery life is 4 hours and the size is just 1/2 the size of what it is now, or maybe smaller.
Imagine this thing coming into your room and waiting for you to open the file cabinet, then it would immediately swoop in and while you shut the cabinet go through all of your files, scanning everything, and as soon as you opened it, fly out taking all of your information with it. Or watching over the combination of your home safe as you opened it.
Or imagine some thief bringing 4 of these things into your house and waiting for you to leave, while the dragon fly informed you. Maybe one could follow you out, so the thief could really take his time, since he knew where you were at all times.
Start thinking about getting window screens!

Seems like a great and fun toy for Christmas! Perhaps the maker will make a ka-zillion dollars! I wish him well!

@Rockon2612

I hope you're just joking. You should be ashamed of yourself if you think a product like this should be banned. Perhaps you think helicopters, quadrotors and planes should be banned?

What's being offered here is something that can do all of that in one, but perhaps with longer flight time, while also looking like a bug. So if you feel it should be banned because it can break into new domains that nothing else has so far, then I pity the technologically stagnant world that would be created if that ideology was held for all technology.

The creators are simply showing possible applications, to rouse people's interest.

@Greenmatrix

Quadrotors are pretty awesome in their capabilities, but as someone else explained, their flight performance actually falls off when you scale them down in size. That's the drawback of using airfoils. This dragonfly is a different way of flying, and with proper funding and resources, it can outperform anything else at its size or smaller because of that.

Give new technology a break, and don't attack it outright. These guys are not a booming company, but with support to their technology, a new type of vehicle can enter the market to claim a domain that nothing else is currently capable of claiming.

RisingPhoenix

I am not ashamed of myself at all. I'm a huge fan of technological progress. But this one in particular needs to be thought of it's implications more before it's released. Currently I'm not too concerned about the current version, but what concerns me is when it becomes much smaller then it is now. I think part of the responsibility of government is to protect people, and by forcing a temporary ban on it, they may be doing just that.