Israel developing a robot no bigger than a hornet

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is using nanotechnology to try to create a robot no bigger than a hornet that would be able to chase, photograph and kill its targets, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday. The flying robot, nicknamed the "bionic hornet," would be able to navigate its way down narrow alleyways to target otherwise unreachable enemies such as rocket launchers, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth said. Its one of several weapons being developed by scientists to combat militants, it said. Others include super gloves that would give the user the strength of a "bionic man" and miniature sensors to detect suicide bombers.

This is a little scary. At least to me it is. Usually things for the military finds its way into civilian hands. Someone really evil can get a hold of this talk about chaos then. I just don't think this look good.

More can be found here.
news.yahoo.com...

Edit: Fixed ex tags.

[edit on 18-11-2006 by intrepid]

My favourite book when I was younger was about UAV's and there was a section about controlling insects by implanting microchips that could enable the military to fly a wasp up to a target and get it to sting them with deadly poison. I've now lost the book, it probably wasted away from over reading, but it was published pre-1990's.

The US is aiming for similar technology as the one you have reported.

It'd have made the invasion of Iraq alot easier; instead of sending over loads of troops and having to carpet bomb cities, they could have just sent in a bee to sting Saddam and kill him.

I think there are some scary implications if dictators get this type of technology, as they could kill opposition without anyone knowing.

How is a hornet-sized robot going to kill someone? Is it able to inject a very strong poison into its target?

This story seems a bit fantastical to me..

really? you havent done your homework. ever, apparently. ricin is one of the most powerful toxins in the world. it is known to have an average lethal dose in humans of 0.2 milligrams (1/5,000th of a gram),

I know very well there are extremely toxic poisons that could be carried by such a thing, but I find the thought of actually creating something like this and flying it around and hitting a person (the right person) seems a bit outlandish to me.

The 34-day war in Lebanon ended with a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in mid-August. The war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

You would think after all these numbers that instead of spending time thinking of new and improved ways to kill people and give other countries the same ideas they would try to think of ways to make peace instead. Is this kind of experimentation any different from when the Nazi's seeked out new and improved ways to destroy their enemies? I guess spending time on such things they know that there will be even more bloodshed in the future. Pretty soon our elected officials and future Presidential reps will have to be kept in enclosed glass cases if ideas like these ever come into fruition. I see it as being nothing contributory to a better quality of life for anyone.

why so? we have tiny helicopters. their dimensions are only Diameter: About 136 mm
Height: About 85 mm


thats not very big. and thats developed in the public sector.



edit: well i mean its big compared to a hornet. but not by scales of magnitude. i can easily see someone with enough money making one of these things maybe 10-15 mm in length.

[edit on 11-18-2006 by forsakenwayfarer]

We have the technology for it, so we can expect it. There is a good probability it will also work as "collective AI Robot" - bringing more creatures like that to communicate together and cooperate - sort of WarCraftII game but for real.What would be interesting to know is - how can the robot be desactivated ? Sure we will find a way hehe, probably a strong magnetical field will induce extra electricity in the circuits while robot is moving or high frequency discharges.And about the sensors to detect the guys with bombs aroudnd them - well.. what if they will also get a little robot? Hope we do not open the box of Pandorra...

Wow,

I knew all the time I played battlefield 1942 and vietnam would come in handy one day. Get a room full of skilled computer game chopper flyers and u got urself a 'swat' team (haha sorry couldn't help it).

Then again I suck at flying - only good at being infantry gah.

Peace,
- Naz

[edit on 19-11-2006 by nazgarn]