Robot Bugs? You’re Kidding, Right? March 17, 2006
From the “It’s Not April Fool’s” files… On the front cover of yesterday’s Globe and Mail newspaper (Canada) is a small headline about the Pentagon developing cyborg insects. These miniature cyborgs would be real bugs, with electronic devices inserted into them at the larval stage. The idea is to be able to control them remotely.
Sounds crazy? I seem to recall coming across one web page late last year where Japanese scientists were demonstrating how they could control the musculature of a woman. In fact, they could remotely control her arms and legs.
The idea with the cybugs is that they would literally be used by the government as bugs, for espionage purposes. The critters would carry transmitters, and could lurk about in walls and corners undetected.
Gee, and I thought I had rats. Isn’t phone-tapping enough for you? (Darn, there go those black helicopters again.) Apparently the first task of these bugs is to spot roadside bugs in Iraq. Which probably means, of course, that the Pentagon’s DARPA isn’t just developing these cybugs, but actually has them earning a salary already. Poor Jiminy Cricket, we hardly knew ye.
Technorati Tags: myglobalcity, my global city, cyborgs, cybugs, robot bugs, robot insects, robotics, darpa
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[…] Garrett Smith has a post about a strange looking communications device called a Duo, by a company named Mvox. It’s being labelled by Mvox as the world’s first wearable Smart Communicator. It has one-touch voice dialing, has hands-free headset, and claims a 100% voice recognition rate. What’s more, you can use its Bluetooth wireless or USB capabilities as a headset for several VoIP soft phones including Skype, Gizmo Project, Google Talk and others. Its release date is in November, with a price of US$199.99. While the device looks kind of cool, I can’t help but think that if it had metallic legs added to it that it might be some sort of eavesdropping robot bug. Bookmark ThisThese icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]