There have been multiple reports of high-tech, insect like drones at recent political rallies that some people suspect are micro-air surveillance vehicles that have been under development by the U.S. intelligence community.
The Israeli military is equipping its forces with a new range of spy drones small enough to fit in a soldier's backpack.
A spy plane with flapping wings and the size of a bee is being developed by at research team at the University of Bath. The plane could send back video footage of battlegrounds and remove the need for human scouts.
Researchers have developed unmanned surveillance aircraft modelled after birds that can blend into their surroundings and fly in flocklike formations.
Biologists and technologists at the University of California, Berkeley have spent the past four years developing a tiny robot, called the Micromechanical Flying Insect, that they say will one day fly like a fly. The Berkeley project is one of several similar projects with the same goal: churn out tiny, nimble devices that can surreptitiously spy on enemy troops, explore the surface of Mars or safely monitor dangerous chemical spills.
The military is close to fielding miniature unmanned aerial vehicles that could eventually render the combat scout as obsolete as the horse cavalry. Pentagon engineers are working on a range of micro aircraft and backpack-sized vehicles for short-range surveillance now conducted by U.S. ground troops.
Engineers have test flown a prototype of the world's first robotic insect. It is hoped that future generations of this curious craft could carry tiny spy cameras into buildings.
A tiny spy plane, propelled by the flap of insect-like wings, is being developed by British scientists to combat terrorism. The design is based on the aeronautical feats of the hover fly, which can flutter over flowers while drawing nectar.
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are building a flying robot about the size of a fly for military reconaissance.
Military scientists have developed a small remote controlled plane that can detect up to four different types of biological weapons.