Nano Technology / Why We Should Be Worried About Tiny Robot Spies

 DARPA has been trying to develop tiny spy drones for years. Once perfected, they will be a powerful new weapon against groups like ISIS, but they'll also mark the end of ever being able to go offline.

Six years ago, I was a daily news blogger for PCMag's sister site, ExtremeTech. I was recently reminded of a story I covered back in the day that—in retrospect—marked the beginnings of an important and still-unfolding technological trend: a hummingbird-shaped drone developed by the military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

OpinionsI titled my hummingbird write-up "DARPA's Robot Hummingbird Takes War on Nectar to a New Level." That "witty" headline completely sidestepped the fact that this drone was being developed as a tool of urban warfare; these tiny robotic spies were intended to slip behind enemy lines.

The functioning 6.5-inch "nano hummingbird" was never in any danger of being mistaken for an actual hummingbird, mostly due to the fact that when in flight, it sounded like an army of flying lawnmowers. Still, when you consider that this bot was on the wish list of an agency with near-bottomless resources and a not-too-shabby track record of achievement, improvements were inevitable.

So, why did DARPA want a hummingbird drone? Roboticists often look to nature for design inspiration. In this instance, the engineering team was attempting to recreate the versatile, all-direction aerial acrobatics achieved by real hummingbirds in nature.

The drone used two rapid-fire wings to obtain stop-and-start maneuvers in all spatial directions and even hover in mid-air. The device was an early attempt to create the perfect invisible spy tool: One that could a) avoid detection and b) maneuver around a complex and unpredictable environment.

DARPA's Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) program was retired a few months after the hummingbird's debut, but it was a success from the agency's point of view because it now had a rough draft of the bird-sized spy drone researchers had hoped to achieve. And what military wouldn't want a squadron of tiny spy drones—particularly as the nature of warfare has shifted from open battlefields to block-by-block pitch battles?

Living Cyborg Super Spies

In the years since the hummingbird roared through the skies, there have been numerous developments in micro-robotics by DARPA and other interested parties. One fascinating line of research eschews the full-robot paradigm altogether and instead embeds tech directly into a living insect's brain and body. In effect, these engineers have created living cyborg super spies.

Due to the simple nature of insect brains, it's possible for scientists to commandeer control of their bodies to a certain extent. Recently, tech bloggers around the web went a gaga over a sci-fi-tastic "cyborg dragonfly" project under development by Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The "DragonflEye" project uses "steering neurons" inside the genetically modified bug's spinal cord, which allow scientists to control where the bug flies. The biomedical tech utilized in this project may one day be used to help disabled people regain control of their bodies, but the military and surveillance applications are a potential game-changer for the entire world.

These cyborg insects are far more versatile than any human-built drone (big or tiny) and don't require any bulky batteries (the DragonflEye tech actually utilizes tiny solar cells to power itself). But, perhaps more importantly, the cyborg insect is quiet and would only arise as much suspicion as an actual dragonfly.

The technology is in its early days, for sure. However, once it is perfected, it's not hard to imagine how capable micro-bots (cyborg or otherwise) could completely reinvent civilization. This isn't an oversell. Ubiquitous robotics will make it nearly impossible to ever be completely offline—even if you were far from your phone or laptop. And that's a frightening prospect.

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