Fab1b
Posts: 12,949
Feb 28, 2011 6:08pm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110228/ap_on_re_us/us_hummingbird_drone
Actually pretty cool the thought of them being able to fly through rubble to search for survivors of disasters. I'm sure these have been around though alot longer than we could imagine and used of course for spying.
Don't worry though Gibby, your basement doesn't have windows so they can't spy on you!!SAN DIEGO – You'll never look at hummingbirds the same again. The Pentagon is pouring millions of dollars into the development of tiny drones inspired by biology, each equipped with video and audio equipment that can record sights and sounds.
They could be used to spy, but also to locate people inside earthquake-crumpled buildings and detect hazardous chemical leaks.
The smaller, the better.
Actually pretty cool the thought of them being able to fly through rubble to search for survivors of disasters. I'm sure these have been around though alot longer than we could imagine and used of course for spying.
bases_loaded
Posts: 6,912
Feb 28, 2011 7:08pm
It will be used .009% for rubble and gas leak searches and 99.991% on spying on the American people
justincredible
Posts: 32,056
Feb 28, 2011 7:15pm
bases_loaded;695121 wrote:It will be used .009% for rubble and gas leak searches and 99.991% on spying on the American people
Yap.
M
mella
Posts: 647
Feb 28, 2011 9:58pm
I guess there must be a union behind this waste of taxpayer money. No other entity could watse money like this!
Mulva
Posts: 13,650
Feb 28, 2011 11:09pm
I'll just start taking a tennis racket to every hummingbird I see. Problem solved.
hoops23
Posts: 15,696
Feb 28, 2011 11:21pm
Mulva;695437 wrote:I'll just start taking a tennis racket to every hummingbird I see. Problem solved.
LOL.
I'm guessing if you actually hit one, you know it wasn't a real hummingbird.
D
Dthane
Posts: 169
Feb 28, 2011 11:30pm
Did you ever get a real one in your house? We had one fly in our garage about ten years ago. I am not sure they are the smartest birds in the world......hey.....wait a minute.....that must have been a government one. No wonder it took it a half an hour to fly out of the 16 foot wide garage door opening...he was taking more pictures of my golf equipment! They are just telling about these. I am sure they have bats, dragonflies, etc that also can do the job.
tk421
Posts: 8,500
Feb 28, 2011 11:36pm
I wonder what the penalty will be for destroying one of these? The FBI visited some guy just for finding a GPS tracker on his car, imagine what the government would do when you destroy one of these million dollar hummingbirds.
ptown_trojans_1
Posts: 7,632
Mar 1, 2011 11:57am
ccrunner609;695115 wrote:yeah we need to spend tax dollars on this
Yep, if it is a means to obtain reliable intelligence for quick action for the military, I'm all for it. Imagine this in Pakistan humming around obtaining info on the Haqqani network or finding a terrorist.
Sounds pretty sweet if you ask me.
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
Mar 1, 2011 11:59am
Are hummingbirds native to Pakistan? If not, I'm thinking something else should be used.ptown_trojans_1;695788 wrote:Yep, if it is a means to obtain reliable intelligence for quick action for the military, I'm all for it. Imagine this in Pakistan humming around obtaining info on the Haqqani network or finding a terrorist.
Sounds pretty sweet if you ask me.
ptown_trojans_1
Posts: 7,632
Mar 1, 2011 4:41pm
O-Trap;695789 wrote:Are hummingbirds native to Pakistan? If not, I'm thinking something else should be used.
Oh, I'm sure the technology can be transferred and applied to other birds that are native to different sections of the world.
I'd also say, the technology can be used just to create a drone that could hover out of sight to obtain information.
This sort of minds me of the Bob Woodward mention that a small, new type of drone, helped turn the tide in Iraq.
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
Mar 1, 2011 5:09pm
I think insects would be the only other option, as I can't think of another creature that can hover still enough in the air to get a feed or video from which anything can be gathered that isn't an insect and isn't a hummingbird.ptown_trojans_1;696142 wrote:Oh, I'm sure the technology can be transferred and applied to other birds that are native to different sections of the world.
I'd also say, the technology can be used just to create a drone that could hover out of sight to obtain information.
This sort of minds me of the Bob Woodward mention that a small, new type of drone, helped turn the tide in Iraq.
I'm thinking you're right about something that basically stays out of sight.
V
vball10set
Posts: 24,795
Mar 1, 2011 5:51pm
BBIWY 
password
Posts: 2,360
Mar 1, 2011 8:36pm
Are they waterproof?