Military Tests Insect-Sized Spy Bots

Some [robots] will be ground based. They'll crawl or walk. They might be deployed inside a building to map out hallways. Others will be airborne and they'll be conducting surveillance and planting sensors.

10 May 2008: A group of U.S. Marines hunker down beside a building, enemy fire coming at them from somewhere up ahead. One soldier reaches into his pack and pulls out a few robots that look like large bugs. The bots fly down the street, sending back images that show where the enemy troops are hiding, how many there are and what weapons they're using.

That's not all. In the same data stream, the robots also send back an audio recording of what the snipers are saying, along with infrared pictures. Armed with the real-time surveillance information, the Marines can maneuver out from under the attack and get to safety.

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