Engineers of American not-for-profit research and development organization, Draper at Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and Howard Hughes Medical Institute are creating a new type of hybrid drone that might surpass even the smallest aerial drones-mimic insect.
It's DragonflEye, a drone that uses live dragonflies to fly. By equipping the insect with a combination of miniaturized navigation, synthetic biology and neurotechnology in a form of a backpack of electronics powered by solar cell, the dragonfly is able to collect data or provide readings in areas where human aren't possible to go.
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Photo: Draper.com
"DragonflEye is a totally new kind of micro-aerial vehicle thats smaller, lighter and stealthier than anything else thats man made," said Jesse J. Wheeler, biomedical engineer at Draper and principal investigator on the program retrieved from Draper's news release.
Moreover, the optogenetic tools turn the modified insect remotely controllable with the steering commands injected directly into the nervous system.
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Photo: Draper.com
The video above shows the project taking its first flight. The engineers however, are still completing the system, expecting the high maneuverability as an insect with no cyborg improvement.