not sure what to make of this 'Nano Air Vehicle' by AeroVironment developed over the past 5 years for millions $$$ to look and function like a humming bird. From a technology perspective its quite cool, while the intended purpose for this device seems rather rediculous (check out clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R9LtsdMz90&NR=1) While I give credit to the developers I also do imagine quite some handy civilian applications (checking out the neighbours' bedroom actions without them noticing for instance.. just for scientific purposes), but i still don't understand why they don't just strap cameras on real birds... oh, they can not be remote-controlled. I'll be laughing seeing all this robo-birds being attacked by real falcons and being picked to pieces. AJ
Checking out my neighbor's sex life will make me feel incredibly lonely - though having the humming bird around for a friend might be cute...but yes predators are more likely to swoop upon it (fyi: they usually don't eat birdies) and then NASA would be looking into the belly of a vulture thinking in it's grand greatness that this was a spy ship making WMDs...PJ
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