(Potential) Attack of the RoboBees

Scared of bees? The RoboBee Project at Harvard University is unlikely to put your fears to rest.

It seems that biology professor Joseph Ayers is hard at work with a team of researchers to develop a horde of tiny flying robot bees that act as much like the real thing as possible. The team plans to actually construct a bee-like nervous system and robo-body, linked to a high-energy source. The hope is to develop robotic simulations of animals capable of operating in a range of environments.

Nervous yet?

If you're still feeling relaxed, check out this tidbit from an article in Newswise: "Ayers is widely known for his work in biomimetics -- the science of adapting the control systems found in nature to inform design of engineered systems to solve real-world problems -- including the development of RoboLobster and RoboLamprey."

RoboLobsters... lampreys... and now bees. You have to wonder what's coming next -- perhaps RoboShark? RoboVampireBat? Or perhaps RoboSaurus?

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