retroremakes
December 29th, 2009, 03:05
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/4/2009/12/500x_hummbot.jpg (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/4/2009/12/hummbot.jpg)This tiny, flying robot flaps its wings 30 times per second—just like a real hummingbird—and will one day save lives by searching for survivors in wreckage and spots inaccessible by humans.
So far, the development of this hummingbird has cost $2.1 million and that number's growing. Japanese researchers are hoping to make the robot hover at a point in mid-air—just like the bird which inspired it—as they control it using infrared sensors. Once they manage that and add a tiny camera, they imagine that the robot will "be used to help rescue people trapped in destroyed buildings, search for criminals or even operate as a probe vehicle on Mars."
A space-exploring, human-saving, crime-stopping robot bird? Brilliant. [PhysOrg (http://www.physorg.com/news181208607.html) via Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/28/japanese-researchers-develop-robotic-heroic-hummingbird/)]
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More... (http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/TYj-hmPue7o/this-is-a-21-million-robot-hummingbird-and-it-may-save-your-life)
So far, the development of this hummingbird has cost $2.1 million and that number's growing. Japanese researchers are hoping to make the robot hover at a point in mid-air—just like the bird which inspired it—as they control it using infrared sensors. Once they manage that and add a tiny camera, they imagine that the robot will "be used to help rescue people trapped in destroyed buildings, search for criminals or even operate as a probe vehicle on Mars."
A space-exploring, human-saving, crime-stopping robot bird? Brilliant. [PhysOrg (http://www.physorg.com/news181208607.html) via Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/28/japanese-researchers-develop-robotic-heroic-hummingbird/)]
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More... (http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/TYj-hmPue7o/this-is-a-21-million-robot-hummingbird-and-it-may-save-your-life)