With artificial muscles that flap it's wings 120 times a second, the RoboBee has a wingspan of 3cm and is able to achieve flight with great ease. You may ask what the point is, but when you hear what Harvard aim to achieve with this tiny gem, you'll be amazed. The plan is to create an autonomous swarm of these robots for search and rescue missions, detailed weather mapping and artificial pollination. Using sensors that act like bees' antennae and specialised software, the robots will be able to scan each other's movements and act accordingly. The size of the robots will be key in sending them into areas such as natural disasters, with more agility and reliability. They are currently working on overcoming a couple of problems with the build itself. The first is putting a power supply on board and the other is fitting a microchip small enough to not hinder the robot's ability to fly. Once they are achieved, the RoboBee is ready to go. But, you do have to ask that one niggling question once the dust of sheer coolness settles; when these little fellers are airborne, how much privacy will we really have left? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2WkIqXdBrQ
KJ Lewis is 35 years old, was able to rear three small children into three slightly bigger children and has a relatively untested and unfounded passion for writing.
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