That’s why a team of scientists from the University of Washington decided to try just putting a camera on an insect instead, like we humans do with our GoPros. The camera, which is wireless, weighs only 248 milligrams, which is so light that it’s not even worth attempting to convert into pounds. Strapped to the back of a beetle, the camera can transmit black-and-white footage via Bluetooth from a maximum distance of 120 meters, or almost 400 feet. The team chose beetles in this case because they were the safest to handle and could bear the weight of the devices.
“Enabling small robots to 'see' ... could be useful for all sorts of tasks like exploring pipes and other confined spaces,” said Vikram Iyer, one of the scientists on the project. And “since insects are much better at storing energy, they can walk around for hours unlike man-made robots and it opens up the potential for using them to gather data in places like smart farms.”
Is anyone else getting a distinct Marvel-esque vibe here?
