Technology

Pentagon Commissions New ‘Hummingbird’ Spy Drone

SAN DIEGO (AP/The Blaze) — You’ll never look at hummingbirds the same again. The Pentagon is pouring millions of dollars into the development of tiny drones inspired by biology, each equipped with video and audio equipment that can record sights and sounds.

They could be used to spy, but also to locate people inside earthquake-crumpled buildings and detect hazardous chemical leaks. The smaller, the better.

The latest device is a robotic hummingbird that can relay full-color spy video:

Besides the hummingbird, engineers in the growing unmanned aircraft industry are working on drones that look like insects and the helicopter-like maple leaf seed.

Researchers are even exploring ways to implant surveillance and other equipment into an insect as it is undergoing metamorphosis. They want to be able to control the creature.

The devices could end up being used by police officers and firefighters.

Their potential use outside of battle zones, however, is raising questions about privacy and the dangers of the winged creatures buzzing around in the same skies as aircraft.

For now, most of these devices are just inspiring awe.

With a 6.5-inch wing span, the remote-controlled bird weighs less than a AA battery and can fly at speeds of up to 11 mph, propelled only by the flapping of its two wings. A tiny video camera sits in its belly.

The bird can climb and descend vertically, fly sideways, forward and backward. It can rotate clockwise and counterclockwise.

Most of all it can hover and perch on a window ledge while it gathers intelligence, unbeknownst to the enemy.

“We were almost laughing out of being scared because we had signed up to do this,” said Matt Keennon, senior project engineer of AeroVironment, the California-based company which developed the hummingbird drone under a contract with the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The Pentagon asked them to develop a pocket-sized aircraft for surveillance and reconnaissance that mimicked biology. It could be anything, they said, from a dragonfly to a hummingbird.

Five years and $4 million later, the company has developed what it calls the world’s first hummingbird spy plane.

“It was very daunting up front and remained that way for quite some time into the project,” he said, after the drone blew by his head and landed on his hand during a media demonstration.

The toughest challenges were building a tiny vehicle that can fly for a prolonged period and be controlled or control itself.

AeroVironment has a history of developing such aircraft.

Over the decades, the Monrovia, Calif.-based company has developed everything from a flying mechanical reptile to a hydrogen-powered plane capable of flying in the stratosphere and surveying an area larger than Afghanistan at one glance.

It has become a leader in the hand-launched drone industry.

Troops fling a four-pound plane, called the Raven, into the air. They have come to rely on the real-time video it sends back, using it to locate roadside bombs or get a glimpse of what is happening over the next hill or around a corner.

The success of the hummingbird drone, however, “paves the way for a new generation of aircraft with the agility and appearance of small birds,” said Todd Hylton of DARPA.

Pentagon Commissions New Hummingbird Spy Drone

These drones are not just birds.

Lockheed Martin has developed a fake maple leaf seed, or so-called whirly bird, loaded with navigation equipment and imaging sensors. The spy plane weighs .07 ounces.

On the far end of the research spectrum, DARPA is also exploring the possibility of implanting live insects during metamorphosis with video cameras or sensors and controlling them by applying electrical stimulation to their wings.

The idea is for the military to be able to send in a swarm of bugs loaded with spy gear.

The military is also eyeing other uses.

The drones could be sent in to search buildings in urban combat zones. Police are interested in using them, among other things, to detect a hazardous chemical leak. Firefighters could fling them out over a disaster to get better data, quickly.

It is hard to tell what, if anything, will make it out of the lab, but their emergence presents challenges and not just with physics.

What are the legal implications, especially with interest among police in using tiny drones for surveillance, and their potential to invade people’s privacy, asks Peter W. Singer, author of the book, “Wired for War” about robotic warfare.

Singer said these questions will be increasingly discussed as robotics become a greater part of everyday life.

“It’s the equivalent to the advent of the printing press, the computer, gun powder,” he said. “It’s that scale of change.”

Comments (28)

  • technoid
    Posted on March 6, 2011 at 7:28pm

    Well this was smart. Tell the bad guys on national TV and the internet what we will use to spy on them with. Where are the real brains at?

    Report Post »  
  • donedunn
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 10:48pm

    I‘m sure the government wouldn’t do anything nefarious with the technology and spy on its own citizens. That would be crazy.

    Report Post »  
  • Angry-Elf
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 6:08pm

    That’s So Raven!

    Report Post » Angry-Elf  
  • N37BU6
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 5:27pm

    I know the whole concept is to create natural looking drones, but flapping wings are really inefficient compared to rotary wings.

    Report Post » N37BU6  
  • Airb0rne4325
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 4:19pm

    Dey betta mark’em good yeah. Dem Coonasses in Sout Loseanne gonna make a nice Sauce Piquante fo’ dat birdie.

    Speaking as a Registered Coonie myself.

    I see one on my dove hunting field, I gonna take it out and have it mounted.

    Report Post » Airb0rne4325  
  • Verum Ad Potentia
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 2:34pm

    By my way of thinking, these are tools, and like any tool they are neither good nor evil, they simply are. If they are used by our troops to scout out and avoid an ambush, then they are good. If they are used by criminals or our government for criminal purposes, then they are evil.

    My concern is, why are we releasing the fact of this technology’s existence? What genius thought this project wasn’t worthy of at least a base level security clearance? As a veteran, I am always frustrated when information like this is released before it absolutely must be.

    Le Sigh

    Report Post » Verum Ad Potentia  
  • trueblueday
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 2:26pm

    So now they’re going to start confusing the real thing! Poor birds. Probably going to mess up migration for multitudes of hummingbirds! — Ornithologists – REVOLT!

    Report Post »  
  • tinlizy
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 1:37pm

    This is technology gone nuts. I am remembering “A Brave New World”.

    Report Post » tinlizy  
  • tinlizy
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 1:36pm

    What is next? Ravens entering the farms and buccolic lives of farmers?

    Report Post » tinlizy  
  • tinlizy
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 1:34pm

    If they are for good then why are they making them look like birds? Because they don’t want people to know they are spying on you. This is evil.

    Report Post » tinlizy  
  • tinlizy
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 1:33pm

    You can count on these going to every town in America spying on all of us making sure we are not using carbon emmiting products, not smoking, not eating fatty foods. The Orwellian nightmare must end.

    Report Post » tinlizy  
  • donnyho
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 12:18pm

    When news of this becomes wide spread, hummingbirds might become an endangered species.

    Report Post »  
  • AlexJonesRules
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 10:17am

    Another waste of taxpayer money for a high tech ‘toy’. This type of technology is now being used to spy on American citizens.

    While Republicans declare that ‘everyone has to feel the pain’ (ie. the average Joe), the Pentagon continues to waste billions of dollars on this kind of foolishness.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

    “More money for the Pentagon, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, while its own auditors admit the military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.

    “According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions,” Rumsfeld admitted.”

    Report Post »  
    • Sinista Mace
      Posted on March 4, 2011 at 10:32am

      What is worse, is that it is intended for your own suveillance.

      They’re making us taxpayers pay to violate our own privacy rights.

      Isn’t it grand?

      Report Post » V-MAN MACE  
  • Beware of Romans
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 9:44am

    Progressive ‘Jesuits’ have deception, killing and human slavery down to a fine art. Lucifer has taught them well. No matter, they will soon be visited by someone on a white horse very soon.

    Rest Assured!

    Report Post » Beware of Romans  
    • Verum Ad Potentia
      Posted on March 4, 2011 at 2:44pm

      You are a regular ‘One-Trick-Pony.’ Your only answer to every topic seems to be: “The Jesuits are comming, the Jesuits are comming!”

      Report Post » Verum Ad Potentia  
    • Beware of Romans
      Posted on March 4, 2011 at 4:46pm

      Prove me wrong smartass. Your about as ignorant to history as one gets.

      “It is my opinion that if the liberties of this country – the United States of America – are destroyed, it will be by the subtlety of the Roman Catholic Jesuit priests, for they are the most crafty, dangerous enemies to civil and religious liberty. They have instigated MOST of the wars of Europe.” Marquis de LaFayette (1757-1834; French statesman and general. He served in the American Continental Army under the command of General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.)

      “The war [i.e., the American Civil War of 1861-1865] would never have been possible without the sinister influence of the Jesuits.” Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865; 16th President of the United States)
      “My history of the Jesuits is not eloquently written, but it is supported by unquestionable authorities, [and] is very particular and very horrible. Their [the Jesuit Order’s] restoration [in 1814 by Pope Pius VII] is indeed a step toward darkness, cruelty, despotism, [and] death. … I do not like the appearance of the Jesuits. If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of [Ignatius de] Loyola.” John Adams (1735-1826; 2nd President of the United States)

      “The public is practically unaware of the overwhelming responsibility carried by the Vatican and its Jesuits in the starting of the two world wars – a situation which may be explained in part by the gigantic finances at the disposition of the Vatican and its Jesuits, giving them power in so many spheres, especially since the last conflict.” Edmond Paris (Author of the book The Secret History of the Jesuits)

      “The Jesuits…are a secret society – a sort of Masonic order – with superadded features of revolting odiousness, and a thousand times more dangerous.” – Samuel Morse (1791-1872; American inventor of the telegraph; author of the book Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States)

      “The Jesuits are a MILITARY organization, not a religious order. Their chief is a general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a monastery. And the aim of this organization is power – power in its most despotic exercise – absolute power, universal power, power to control the world by the volition of a single man [i.e., the Black Pope, the Superior General of the Jesuits]. Jesuitism is the most absolute of despotisms [sic] – and at the same time the greatest and most enormous of abuses…” Napoleon I (i.e., Napoleon Bonaparte; 1769-1821; emperor of the French)

      Report Post » Beware of Romans  
  • rabblechat
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 8:26am

    How many Billions will be wasted on this gadget? When we are running a 1.5+ trillion Annual deficit we cannot afford to blow money on these kind of projects.
    http://www.rabblechat.com

    Report Post » rabblechat  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 8:13am

    This country is incapable of keeping anything secret anymore. Today’s media would have announced the D-Day invasion in May and done documentaries on the “New Atom Bomb” before it was dropped. What part of SECRET weapon don’t you all get?

    Report Post » Gonzo  
  • Ialmostforgot
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 7:49am

    They’re just giving us more and more targets to shoot at,, heh heh heh.

    Report Post »  
  • Creestof
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 4:04am

    This type of idiocy is the problem. We need to save money and balance the budget. These twits keep looking for programs they can cut billions (with a “B”) from and when they can’t find any, they say “ok, guess we can’t save or balance”…just stop funding all the thousands of retarded programs like THIS one and the millions (with a “M”) will soon add up to billions.

    I’m beginning to think we really do need a revolution in America…one where we string up every politician…cause they just don‘t get it or they just don’t care. And they are destroying our country. I don’t just mean our reputation…I mean the whole shebang!

    Frankly, I’m also getting rather sick of all the talking heads out there who talk their big game and ideas…but won’t run for office. They’ll yap & yap & yap…but won’t put their money where their mouth is…and that IS what it comes down to…as long as they keep “yapping” they make millions from pushing our buttons…if they actually run (or even win) it causes their earnings to go down…unless they turn in to unethical thieves like the ones we want to replace. The info they gather and provide us is essential, I’ll admit…but we need them in office implementing them.

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on March 4, 2011 at 1:58am

    It was only a matter of time; and good for now as long as only they are used on the enemies of the USA and for search and rescue, the hard part will be when they are turned upon us by enemies from without the nation, or from those within. It all depends on how they are used, and for why they are deployed.

    Besides, Obama has most likely sold them already to the nations enemies at a discount rate.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Creestof
      Posted on March 4, 2011 at 3:54am

      We really need to put our money into a passive technology, inventions, etc…that we can produce here and sell to the rest of the world. Start creating jobs HERE…start bringing money HERE…rather than buying everything from other countries and outsourcing jobs.

      This piece of crap bird is going to cost a fortune and rarely (if ever) get used beyond demonstrations. Just another channel to pay off some friend of a friend defense contractor.

      Report Post »  
    • avenger
      Posted on March 4, 2011 at 6:15am

      now we need a tactical mini nuke for the bird….

      Report Post »  
    • REDPILLREADY
      Posted on March 4, 2011 at 8:41am

      I thought anything that had the word “spy” in it was suppose to be secret. I would not be surprised in the least that the Chicoms are receiving (or taking) the drawings and software in real time as its being developed.

      Report Post » REDPILLREADY  
    • biggreenboo
      Posted on March 4, 2011 at 10:22am

      Several people have posted that this is a waist of money… I disagee. This item is brilliant and has so many uses. Several which could save lives and money.

      Now for the down side… this thing is dangerous… there is no safe place to hide from prying eye.

      Let’s hope the people who use this… use it the right way. (well there a waisted penny down the wishing well)

      Report Post »  
    • lillianrose
      Posted on March 4, 2011 at 5:33pm

      It will only fly for ten minutes at a time, not quiet & hummingbirds are mostly located in the americas, if sitting on a ledge- looks fake to me. As far as search and rescue, it is too limited- there are better devices that would do better and for alot less $$.

      Report Post »  

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