BLOG VIEW  |  HEADLINE VIEW
SUBMIT NEWS  |  RSS FEED  |  SEARCH

Worst Thing Ever: Insect Robots

THURSDAY OCTOBER 11 2007 9:00 AM

Submitted by FearTheReaper. Edited By erin_broadley.

TAGS: Insect robots



I hate bugs and I hate robots. Now some asshole seems to have created insect robots. Why don’t they just blow up the planet? Robots are pure evil and in case anyone hasn’t noticed movies over the past few decades, they will eventually kill us all. It’s inevitable, especially when you make them small and give them wings. Unfortunately, protesters claim the winged bot demons are here.


"I heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,' " the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects."


"I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?' "


They are alive and mechanical. They are “robotic fliers” and they are going to kill you. The insect drones are high-tech surveillance tools that have been seen at political protests in Washington and New York. Although, no agency has claimed the robobugs.


No agency admits to having deployed insect-size spy drones. But a number of U.S. government and private entities acknowledge they are trying. Some federally funded teams are even growing live insects with computer chips in them, with the goal of mounting spyware on their bodies and controlling their flight muscles remotely.


Uh, what? After I finish this article, I’m going to blow my brains out. I figure it will be more pleasant than the coming insect robot revolution. I always pictured fighting for my life in storm drains, using my warning cats (I like cats) to alert me to intrusive robots. But those robots are supposed to be large and take the shape of humans. Sure, there would be the occasional spider shaped robot, crawling around with a video camera, but my cats would quickly destroy them. Flying insect robots obviously fuck up everything. Now a robot just flies into my storm drain, armed with its tiny stinger full of deadly poison. Or worse, a substance that only paralyzes my cats and me. Then the humanoid robots just saunter in, take me back to the lab and attempt to manpregnate me with cyborgs. Totally fucked up.

Some, however, do not believe that the tiny airborne robots exist.


The technical challenges of creating robotic insects are daunting, and most experts doubt that fully working models exist yet.

"If you find something, let me know," said Gary Anderson of the Defense Department's Rapid Reaction Technology Office.


Actually, you’ll know because one will have flown into your ear and taken control of you body. Idiot.

The CIA developed the “insectothopter” in the 70’s. It used a tiny gasoline engine, four wings and looked like a dragonfly. But it was taken out of commission because it couldn’t handle crosswinds. And that was the seventies! Of course they have tiny flying robots now.

Even more disturbing, we have created “cyborg insects.”


In one approach, researchers funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are inserting computer chips into moth pupae -- the intermediate stage between a caterpillar and a flying adult -- and hatching them into healthy "cyborg moths."


Great. Just fucking great. We have cameras everywhere, constantly watching people, but I never thought I would have to be concerned about tiny flying cameras. This brings surveillance to an entirely different level. We here in America tend to value our privacy and I’m pretty sure the Founding Fathers never covered flying insect robots in The Constitution. I don’t think Thomas Jefferson ever looked at James Madison and said,


    Hey, what if somebody makes tiny eavesdropping robots to fly above protesters?

    Wow, good point, Tommy. We should cover insect robots, as well as bug cyborgs.


Welcome to the invasion of privacy insect robot era. It's not goint to be pretty. I’ve been violated too many times by regular bugs and understand how intrusive they can be. I give it 30 years before we are a slave race working for insect robots.


FearTheReaper does not welcome our new insectobot warlords.

 

Previous

PAGE: 

1 | 2 | 3

Next

Luddite

Luddite

Anderson, CA
December 2005

OCT 11, 2007 09:03 AM

At least we won't be working in salt mines.

ardour

ardour

Ottawa, ON
March 2006

OCT 11, 2007 09:10 AM

You hate robots?! Even Robbie?

King_Mob

King_Mob

Orchard Park, NY
September 2005

OCT 11, 2007 09:20 AM

....
I got nuthin.
Sorry.

RileyStClair

RileyStClair

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

OCT 11, 2007 09:24 AM

i love robots, but insects are the devil's spawn so it cancels out.



jdmass

jdmass

Argentina
June 2007

OCT 11, 2007 09:25 AM

Robots aren't evil, they are just machines, machines do whatever you build them to do. The people building those machines, on the other hand...

Insect robots have been around for a while, hobbyists with less than perfect technical skills have been building them for ages, this sort of technology is not a huge leap for security agencies with hugely bloated budgets.

$100 dart-throwing robo-spider toy

University of Plymouth's article on flapping micro UAVs

_DictionaryGirl_

_DictionaryGirl_

NEWSWIRE

San Diego, CA

OCT 11, 2007 09:41 AM

Uncognitive

Uncognitive

Brooklyn, NY
May 2003

OCT 11, 2007 09:46 AM

I'm so bugging the folks at The Sharper Image to whip me up a counter-surveillance robot frog.

erratic_prophet

erratic_prophet

San Diego, CA
December 2006

OCT 11, 2007 09:53 AM

My cats turn into Olympic athletes when they see moths flying around, I think I would be safe in your storm drain scenario.

Clidna

Clidna

Emo, ON
January 2005

OCT 11, 2007 09:55 AM

Was that an intentional pun? wink

As to the robots, insects in any form are nasty, biological or mechanical. puke

freshprncebelair

freshprncebelair

Ellicott City, MD
June 2004

OCT 11, 2007 09:56 AM



The CIA developed the "insectothopter" in the 70's. It used a tiny gasoline engine, four wings and looked like a dragonfly. But it was taken out of commission because it couldn't handle crosswinds. And that was the seventies! Of course they have tiny flying robots now.



Yeah, if these things actually did exist, it would be a major jump in technology from what we have now. It's no wonder that not a single specimen was captured by the people claiming these exist.

Even the chips and gyroscopes and accelerometers we have now that would be required to fly one of these weigh more than an insect.

ki1

ki1

Ireland
September 2007

OCT 11, 2007 09:59 AM

they have invented a cool device to counter the insect robots. you can buy it on ebay.
see below,
null

TheRedBaron

TheRedBaron

Cambridge, MA
November 2003

OCT 11, 2007 10:07 AM

Uncognitive said:
I'm so bugging the folks at The Sharper Image to whip me up a counter-surveillance robot frog.



HA! I love it.


Also, the army has been using those remote controlled mini surveillance helicopters for years. You KNOW if Washington gave those to the grunts that they must be packing something gangsta in their secret arsenal.

GonzoChaote

GonzoChaote

Vancouver, BC
March 2007

OCT 11, 2007 10:09 AM

"Warning cats" Hah.

Heracleitus

Heracleitus

North Hollywood, CA
May 2005

OCT 11, 2007 10:36 AM

You could develop robot spiders to eat the rogue robot insects and then robot birds to eat the rogue robot spiders and then robot cats to eat the rogue robot birds and then a robot dogs to eat the rogue robot cats and then a robot cow (someone ran out of good ideas somewhere along the line) to eat the rogue robot dogs...

... But the old lady is still going to die in the end.

Bergalerg

Bergalerg

Saint Paul, MN
August 2007

OCT 11, 2007 10:47 AM

I know a man who used to work in aviation and also robotics that was asked to develop dragon fly style wings for small flying robots. He said it was nearly impossible because dragon flies weigh less than the lightest wing he was able to produce. The dragon fly spy project was capped...

Previous

PAGE: 

1 | 2 | 3

Next

Now Hear This

Last Comment 3 HR by orbro

Now Hear This

Last Comment 3 HR

There's like a half-hour of video here. You should do a vlog. More ...

Asshole Fuckface Roundup #74

Last Comment 4 HR

Parents who are accustomed to carrying guns around may not think anything of going into child-related... More ...

An Encounter With Jonathan Shaw's Narcisa

Last Comment 5 HR

thanx gurlz... u rrrrrule!! xx jonathan shaw and narcisa More ...

SuicideGirl: Bob

Bob

Terrible Woman's MySpace Alias Leads to Teen's Suicide.

Last Comment 20 HR

But, it's delivered poorly...really poorly. Unless, it's not a joke, in which case, it's a good place... More ...

Bail The Shit Out Of Detroit

Last Comment 11/30/08 by Shalome

Bail The Shit Out Of Detroit

Last Comment 11/30/08

Oh my fucking god. More ...

Filtering the Truth: Religion - Friend or Foe?

Last Comment 11/30/08

I'm just going to skip over the mass orgy that's going on and say my piece: I don't think religion is... More ...

SuicideGirls Interview: Al Jourgensen of Ministry
SuicideGirls Interview: Frank Portman
SuicideGirls Interview: Nikki Sixx