This Robotic Dragonfly Flew 40 Years Ago

This is a robotic dragonfly. If I told you that some company had just invented it and it was flying around today, you’d probably be impressed. Instead, I’m going to tell you that it was developed by the CIA and was flying in the 1970s. And not just flying like proof-of-concept-it-gets-off-the-ground flying, but reportedly, the flight tests were ‘impressive,’ whatever that means. It was powered by an ultraminiaturized gasoline engine (!) that would vent its exhaust backwards to increase the bot’s thrust, and the only reason they seemed to have scrapped it was that its performance in a crosswind wasn’t that good:

This Robotic Dragonfly Flew 40 Years Ago

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Botjunkie/~3/I9jcAQoufFI/

Kit-built robotic xylophone

Nerdkits sells wicked-nerdy gift kits built around a little microcontroller; to demonstrate the awesome power thereof, they've built this self-playing robotic xylophone from scratch, solenoid, aluminum bars and all.

Kit-built robotic xylophone

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/K6aBF5Pt200/kit-built-robotic-xy.html