Army Contract For Mini-Spy Drones

Danger Room at Wired Blogs sums it up nicely: "Usually, our dystopian nightmares of robot domination involve big, substantive machines - man-sized, or better. But many academics and military futurists believe the real power of 'bots will be realized in swarms of tiny mechanical critters." (Think the spiders of Minority Report, instead of the Schwarzeneggers of Terminator.) The massive defense contractor BAE Systems has announced that it will lead a team of academics and military researchers to try to create just those kind of machines." (The picture at right is from a BAE release - not a Tom Cruise flick.)... BAE Systems will lead a team of scientists that will develop miniature robots to improve military situational awareness. The company signed a $38 million agreement with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to lead an alliance of researchers and scientists from the Army, academia and industry. The Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) Collaborative Technology Alliance will research and develop advanced robotic equipment for use in urban environments and complex terrain, such as mountains and caves. The alliance will create an autonomous, multifunctional collection of miniature intelligence-gathering robots that can operate in places too inaccessible or dangerous for humans. “Robotic platforms extend the warfighter's senses and reach, providing operational capabilities that would otherwise be costly, impossible, or deadly to achieve,” said Dr. Joseph Mait, MAST cooperative agreement manager for the Army Research Laboratory. “The MAST alliance is a highly collaborative effort, with each partner from government, academia, and industry playing a significant role.” MAST will advance fundamental science and technology for future robotic systems in several key areas, including small-scale aeromechanics and ambulation; propulsion; sensing, processing and communications; navigation and control; microdevices and integration; platform packaging; and systems architectures.