‘Pop Up’ Technique Could Mass Produce Insect-Like Drones
- Posted on February 17, 2012 at 11:08pm by
Liz Klimas
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Using an idea similar to that of a child’s pop-up book, Harvard scientists have come up with a technique that could be the future of mass-producing insect-like drones.
The Daily Mail reports that the Harvard developers created tiny robots – we’re talking 2.4mm tall — out of sheets composed of carbon fiber, plastic film, titanium brass and ceramics that are laser cut with a design. When “activated” the sheet pops up and together into an insect with wings. The template being less than the size of a quarter, many of the robots could be produced from a single sheet.
(Related: Nano drone swarm shows off slightly creep formation skills)
The Daily Mail has more on the design concept:
The 18-layer structure incorporates flexible hinges that allow the three-dimensional product—just 2.4 millimeters tall—to assemble in one movement, like a pop-up book.
The Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory has been working for years to build bio-inspired, bee-sized robots that can fly and behave autonomously as a colony.
“We can generate full systems in any three-dimensional shape,’ says Professor Robert Wood. “We’ve also demonstrated that we can create self-assembling devices by including pre-stressed materials.”
“In a larger device, you can take a robot leg, for example, open it up, and just bolt in circuit boards. We‘re so small that we don’t get to do that.”
Here the developers explain the technology (Note: Zip to 2:53 to see the pop up in action; at 4:09 the wings begin to buzz):
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Comments (56)
Bobby P
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 9:22amMy smart phone has a fly swatter app
Report Post »poorrichard09
Posted on February 20, 2012 at 7:21amAll us preppers need food, guns & ammo, and fly swatters!
Report Post »Plan B
Posted on February 20, 2012 at 2:58pmRichard, I was going to say that!!
Report Post »Silversmith
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 8:53amWell if you felt like you were being watched before, just wait!!
Silversmith
Report Post »Gravejoke
Posted on February 19, 2012 at 5:31pmSeriously!
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 8:39amThe DHS will use this technology to ‘protect’ us hahaha.
Report Post »brntout
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 8:32amNanny-technology?
Report Post »juggernaut
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:31pmHa Ha!!!!!!!
Report Post »hempstead1944
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 7:54amWhere is the “Terminator” when you really need him….
Report Post »Oneirishman
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 7:43amHarvard produces another product with no brain. But it looks and sounds cool. Maybe it should be appointed Editor of the Harvard Law Review to give the appearance of credibility. Then it can go on to further subvert American freedoms.
Report Post »hillbillyinny
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 7:36amSomehow this is reminding me of the attacking insects of the book of Revelation in the Bible!
Number one, get right with the Lord–our God is wonderful!
Number two, Maranatha! (Come quickly Lord Jesus!)
Report Post »Ayla_me
Posted on February 19, 2012 at 2:54pmThat is exactly what I thought of at first. They just need to be equiped with certain attack capabilities, one in front and the other behind, to reign terror on the world. If people do not wake up to the fact that WE are creating our own destruction, with ethics falling so far behind technology, we are going to be so plagued by the evils we have invented. See Rev. chapter 9. Very odd.
Report Post »VicksVaporub
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 6:50amThis is old news, the CIA has been using stuff like this for years.
Report Post »Lone Ranger
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 2:40amWhat, we don’t have enough real insects?
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 2:21amwhat happen when a frog eats one of these?
Report Post »NancyBee
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 9:35amBurp!
Report Post »Gypsy123
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 2:16amThen locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth,
Report Post »and they were given power to sting like scorpions. …
//bible.cc/revelation/9-3.htm – 17k
Can you imagine these things being programmed to attack humans.
Wonder if Rev was referring to these creatures After all wasn’t Clintons mentor a satanist
Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 4:49amI was just thinking of that myself. This is seriously scary technology.
Report Post »4xeverything
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 5:44amEverytime I smack a bug dead that’s on me, I’ll be looking a little closer at what it is I flattened.
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 5:54amIf you read Revelation you can see the end times war machines very clearly…that is if you have spiritual eyes and dont have your head stuck up your backside like most people…
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 6:51amBaddooggy, Is this what you’re thinking of?
Report Post »7The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.
It sure could fit.
sawbuck
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 8:13amGonzo
Report Post »In my youth, I always thought that the Bible verses you referenced ,were depicting a helicopter ( like many think). With modern advances in science, giving us things like “cloning-splicing- gene manipulation and “nano-technology”…
I’m of the opinion today, that it will be closer to a literal description of these creatures.
Baddoggy
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 9:21amGonzo…It trult is a description of modern day warfare. Look at how the sky is described as rolling up like a scroll…A nuke? You betcha. Look at how when the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse are described…There is a verese that says a days wages for a loaf of bread…hyperinflation.
The most rtelling of all is there is a quote…i believe in Daniel?? that says the end will come when people are saying “peace and security”. What are we doing now? We are exchanging our security for peace…DHS come to mind?
I have taught and studied end times prophesy. i need to go back and brush up on it some. Especially now since we have had the invention of drones and these little “scorpions”. Eye popping stuff…
Report Post »madasblazes
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 1:14pmMy thought too!
Report Post »jand777
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 1:48amExactly, the damn thing didn’t even fly. I feel so cheated.
Report Post »rdietz7
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 1:17amDid I just watch that entire video? The damn thing didn’t even fly!
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:39amYikes! Big Brother really is watching you!
Report Post »AmericanStrega
Posted on February 20, 2012 at 10:44amYep. Just a fly on the wall.
Report Post »thomas242007
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:24ami guess thats where they got the occupy wallstreet protesters eh
Report Post »thomas242007
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:23ami always wondered where they got that many people for occupy wallstreet
Report Post »thomas242007
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:23amso thats where the protester for occupy wall street
Report Post »Fearnone
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:20amI already have some 12 ga shells loaded with drone-spray shot.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:13amFlyswatters against oppression !!!!!!
Report Post »Cymry
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 11:54pmIsn’t there a reference in the book of Revelation about unusually large “hornets” stinging men?
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 1:03amThe Book of Revelation is unto Heraldry Blazon. “Their tails were like scorpions, and their sting was in their tails.” Moreover hypocrites, gossipers, and liars. Or people who like to nudge people into doing things. You don’t see them coming and they sting you with their backside.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 1:09amI knew men would try to make devices like right out of the Book of Revelation to make people think they are in the end times to try to disprove God in the eyes of men.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 1:15amIf they are given the opportunity, they would also sting people with some kind of ray gun for five months.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 1:17amAnd then some group of men who want to be worshiped as gods will somehow destroy all the things menacing people so as to make people think they are god.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 11:45pmOh, yeh… this will be for a non-leathal application used by benevollent leaders!
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 11:43pmSome WD-40 and a cigarette lighter…burns their wings off…
Report Post »Then you can torture them when they’re helpless on the ground. Really give their little camera something to look at. Maybe relieve yourself on it. Make it watch “the blaze”.
vtxphantom
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 11:43pmIf the bee population dies off, these critters could be trained to pollinate.
Report Post »Wool-Free Vision
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:19amVTXPhantom, I like the way you think. Somewhere, at this very moment, a brainstorming session is going nowhere (or worse, is opting for cliché) because you aren’t in it.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 11:42pmReminds me of the SciFi channels version of Frank Herbert’s Dune
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:01amHarvard gave us Obama… so what could go wrong?
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 5:56amRead the Bible. The book of Revelation shows these very clearly. They are described as hornets.
Report Post »JACKTHETOAD
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 8:28amSTOIC ONE, exactly my first thoughts. Not only their insect-like aircraft, but worse. prototypes of the hunter-seekers. HORDES of them. Looks like Ehlrich and Orkin are gonna have re-tool their weapons.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 11:32pmFly paper will stop these critters!
Report Post »txbigfoot
Posted on February 18, 2012 at 8:43amLunch cops, app cops, drone cops, Obama smear cop…. get the picture.
Report Post »Say no to O in 2012