Japan's New Hovering Hummingbird Bot Has Four Wings, Weighs Under 3 Grams

By Clay Dillow Posted 03.03.2010 at 2:59 pm 7 Comments

Chiba University's Latest Hummingbird 'Bot Chiba University

Biomimicry isn't new, nor are robotic hummingbirds, but the latest 'bot to come out of Chiba University in Japan makes even the DARPA-inspired Nano Air Vehicle -- which is very cool, needless to say -- look like last year's robotics.

Weighing only 2.6 grams and controlled by an infrared sensor, the tiny four-winged 'bot bobs and weaves through the air like a hummingbird, going as high as ten feet for up to six minutes at a time. By comparison, the makers of DARPA's Nano Air Vehicle were still working toward a 10-gram design last we checked.

While Chiba's robot has a hummingbird's agility, it has not yet achieved the stationary hover that makes designs like this so exciting. However, researchers there plan to have it hovering very soon, and by 2011 they hope to have it hovering with a microcamera so it can relay images to its handlers.

The idea is to use the 'bot in disaster scenarios in which search and rescue personnel need eyes in tight places or to perform recon in areas that are too dangerous for humans to go stomping around. But the military and intelligence benefits of a tiny, hovering robot like this are absolutely huge, offering an unparalleled means of surreptitiously looking around the next corner or inserting audio and visual devices into places where a special forces or intelligence operator might look out of place.

That is, until the army of cyborg insects spies is ready to deploy.

[Singularity Hub]

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7 Comments

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Dax

03/03/10 at 4:17 pm

It can actually go ten *meters* up in the air, not just feet. (According to the video.)

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chieffranky

03/03/10 at 8:45 pm

I'll be keeping an eye out for these hovering outside my windows, lol.

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Whys333

03/03/10 at 10:25 pm

We are no longer safe.

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xyrobiuz

03/05/10 at 4:56 am

this gives a new meaning of being bugged

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cricket52

03/07/10 at 9:25 pm

This will revolutionize the pet toy industry. My cat would love one of these.

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GreenAce92

03/21/10 at 10:05 pm

what I bet the only reason it can hover is that it is tail heavy, it seemed like all they were controlling is the rudder and the rate of the wings (speed that they flap) still it is amazing at 3 grams

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hackerslayer787

03/28/11 at 10:02 am

"inserting audio and visual devices into places where a special forces or intelligence operator might look out of place". i dont think a humming bird looks much less "out of place" than a normal person. humming birds are not found in as many places as a casualy dressed human and they are almost never found indoors. just sayin

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