Robot Hummingbird could one day have a tiny camera

One of the most intriguing creatures in the animal kingdom is the hummingbird. These small birds have wings that move faster than 30 times per second, and they are the only bird that can fly backwards.

It does not surprise me that a Japanese researcher named Hiroshi Liu modeled his flying robot after the hummingbird. His robo-hummingbird, for lack of a better word, weighs up 2.6 grams and 10 centimeters long. Just to let you know, this is about the size of a non-robo-hummingbird.

Believe it or not, research into this robotic avian is at $2 million, and counting. The end-goal of this project is to create a robo-hummingbird with a tiny camera. This will allow the robo-hummingbird to fly into tight corners for going to places that humans cannot reach.

For example, in situations where a mineshaft has collapsed, and there is only tiny openings for air. Just send in the robo-hummingbird and check on the status on survivors. Now, you could achieve the same effect by mounting a tiny camera on a small flying toy copter, but the toy chopper would not be as stable in its flight.

Personally, I can easily see this robo-hummingbird being used as some sort of spy camera. I’m not certain if adding a colorful hummingbird disguise would fool anyone, though.