Robofly

Some clever sorts have made a robotic fly the size of a, well, a fly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22380287

They've got some work to do before it becomes useful, but its interesting all the same.

They're saying it could one day be used in search and rescue, being able to get into places that nothing else can. Fair enough. They also say it might one day replace honeybees for crop pollination. Worrying. They make no mention of the fact that military around the world would love a whole swarm of roboflies that they could use to covertly collect very comprehensive intelligence.

 

So, who's going to stand and operate the controls flitting it/them between plants, I can't see it working and if it does I doubt it will be any quicker than by hand. For the military on the other hand, with development, it could be useful.

 

Its the future. Artificial Intelligence is coming on in leaps and bounds and while it will be a very long time before we have anything that would consistently pass the Turin test, we're not far at all from having software that can mimic the cognitive capacity of an insect. 10 years from now, Robofly will be out there, doing its own thing and will be completely autonomous.

 

As long as nobody swats it!

 

Depends where it gets launched. If its in the US, then there will be a global crisis. It will start with sudden crop failures resulting in rioting and looting. The military will be brought in to deal with it but their mightiest weapons will have no effect, and ultimately it will be one nutty scientist that develops a computer virus that renders robofly and his billions of mates completely inert. Movies will be made about it for years to come.

If it gets launched in Britain, either some kid will just pull its wings off to see what happens, or someone will just squash it. Either way, life will go on as normal and people wont even talk about it.

 

Right on both counts Clueless!