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@floofloof@lemmy.ca to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish • 5 months ago

MIT builds swarms of tiny robotic insect drones that can fly 100 times longer than previous designs

www.livescience.com

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MIT builds swarms of tiny robotic insect drones that can fly 100 times longer than previous designs

www.livescience.com

@floofloof@lemmy.ca to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish • 5 months ago
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Scientists have built a new type of robotic insect that can fly 100 times longer than previous generations.
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  • @double_quack@lemm.ee
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    63•5 months ago

    We all know where this is gonna end…

    • @Fandangalo@lemmy.world
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      40•5 months ago

      Surveillance drones everywhere.

      • @double_quack@lemm.ee
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        35•5 months ago

        Surveillance is the “nice” version of it.

        • @Fandangalo@lemmy.world
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          24•5 months ago

          Anal probes everywhere.

          • @double_quack@lemm.ee
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            5•5 months ago

            Exactly! Flying, they are flying everywheeeaaahhhh!

            • @Fandangalo@lemmy.world
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              10•5 months ago

              • @adarza@lemmy.ca
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                10•5 months ago

                DilDrone™

                • @jaemo@sh.itjust.works
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                  2•5 months ago

                  Yeah I was gonna say like why are we even workshopping the name with a winner like that. Get this employee a bonus check!

              • @Iheartcheese@lemmy.world
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                2•5 months ago

                Neat a dildo and 4 rotating nipple toys

              • @Cenzorrll@lemmy.world
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                1•5 months ago

                https://abq.news/2022/03/sex-toy-drone-operator-who-terrorized-sheriff-manny-gonzales-mayoral-campaign-runs-for-sheriff/

    • @Thrashy@lemmy.world
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      8•5 months ago

      I’ve low-key started to think the only reason we haven’t seen autonomous hunter-killer drones yet is that nobody’s willing to break the seal, and I’m scared for what happens when somebody finally does.

      • @double_quack@lemm.ee
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        20•5 months ago

        My dear stranger, those already exist, and have been used in war to terminate key individuals.

        We are living the dream.

        • metaStatic
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          19•5 months ago

          key individuals

          Such as Palestinian children

        • @Thrashy@lemmy.world
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          8•5 months ago

          Point me towards systems that don’t have a human in the loop, particularly any that utilize fully-autonomous swarms, and I’ll agree. Scary as the former are, there’s a world of difference between a handful of FPV suicide drones, and a cloud of HL2-Manhack-esque things operating on face-recogniton-guided autopilot.

          • @double_quack@lemm.ee
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            8•5 months ago

            Oh, that’s what you mean… yeah, there are humans behind, but potato potato, swap one brain for another… anyway it is a killing machine that can get you anywhere in the planet.

      • Erasmus
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        4•5 months ago

        Horizon Zero Dawn looking more eminent any day now.

    • @Iheartcheese@lemmy.world
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      4•5 months ago

      Anal

    • @Infernal_pizza@lemm.ee
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      3•5 months ago

      #BugsArentReal

    • @rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      2•5 months ago

      And it sucks, when you think inside Star Wars, such small drones are used only in medical or expensive surveillance and military applications.

      But in real life it can really be a swarm of things worse than scarabs in The Mummy.

    • @Docus@lemmy.world
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      1•5 months ago

      There is no way these things could spread poison instead of pollen is there?

  • @Doorbook@lemmy.world
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    44•
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    5 months ago

    In the latest video about this by veritasium, he asked the researcher about ethics concern. the researcher insist that they dont care as humanity can decide for itself.

    Meanwhile:

    The new report also details the extent of MIT’s partnerships with Israeli military contractors like Elbit Systems, which supplies 85 percent of Israel’s killer drones, and Maersk, one of the world’s largest shipping companies, that has sent millions of pounds of military goods to Israel since the start of the war on Gaza. The Israeli military also sponsored several of the MIT projects with funds provided by the U.S. Defense Department.

    https://theintercept.com/2025/01/16/mit-israel-military-funding-research-gaza/

    • @shoo@lemmy.world
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      11•5 months ago

      That researcher is a real life Dr. Hoenikker. Vonnegut is probably shrugging in his grave

      • Sam, The Man
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        7•
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        5 months ago

        -…his mother was completely consumed by robotic bees. So it goes.

    • @0x0@programming.dev
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      7•5 months ago

      MIT also (indirectly) killed Aaron Swartz.

    • @remer@lemmy.world
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      7•5 months ago

      “We are willing to ignore and downplay the ethical concerns as long as the money keeping coming in”

    • @Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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      7•5 months ago

    • @0x0@programming.dev
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      3•5 months ago

      MIT also (indirectly) killed Aaron Swartz.

  • Mister Neon
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    44•5 months ago

    I’d rather just have bees.

    • @ploot@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      28•
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      5 months ago

      But how can techbros get rich from bees? Bees just make themselves for free then serve the greater good, the little buzzing communists.

    • @Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
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      10•5 months ago

      Even birds are starting to seem acceptable

    • @MonkeyTown@midwest.social
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      2•5 months ago

      I’d rather not have robot bees. I’ve seen hated in the nation (black mirror episode).

      • @Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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        3•5 months ago

        The MIT engineers agree. They said something to the effect of “If you could make a robotic bee, it wouldn’t replace bees. It would be a terrible idea to try to use them for pollination… Just put that same amount of finding into conservation and researching bees, you would have a much better result.”

  • @PiJiNWiNg@sh.itjust.works
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    19•
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    2 months ago

    deleted by creator

    • @floofloof@lemmy.caOP
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      4•5 months ago

      They think there will be more profit in it, especially since bees can’t be repurposed as weapons.

      • @technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2•
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        5 months ago

        bees can’t be repurposed as weapons.

        Capitalism will find a way.

        https://cherwell.org/2024/10/18/oxford-scientists-microchip-bees-with-smallest-radar-ever/

  • Someplaceunknown
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    10•5 months ago

    Nope, I’m out

  • @technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9•
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    5 months ago

    Dear technology under capitalism… We just want healthcare, housing, etc… We don’t fucking need swarms of robot insects.

  • @Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world
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    7•5 months ago

    I’ve seen this episode of Black Mirror.

  • @JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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    6•5 months ago

    Looks like they hovered for 1000 seconds. It was previously stress limited such that the joints would break after just a few seconds. I think they might still be tethered for a power source, I haven’t seen any of these micro flapping bots include a battery yet, and they didn’t mention that they did.

    https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adp4256

  • Zier
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    6•5 months ago

    It wont be long now before the nanobots exist and the Borg can finally take over. Resistance is futile.

  • Maeve
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    4•5 months ago

    Bradbury called it in Farahenheit 451.

  • 🇨🇦 tunetardis
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    3•5 months ago

    How’s this for an obscure reference? This reminded me of an episode of Max Headroom in which the wunderkind Bryce invented a robotic fly with a spycam that could be used to literally bug a room. They send it on a mission to uncover an evil plot and everyone is excitedly crowded around the screen and heaping praise on it. Then it manages to sneak into the evil lair where it promptly gets swatted, leaving Bryce shocked and devastated.

    • @Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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      4•5 months ago

      They also did this in Spy Kids

  • @Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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    1•5 months ago

    The new technology could increase crop yields dramatically without harming the environment.

    That’s a surprisingly benign use case, I was expecting far worse.

    • @_stranger_@lemmy.world
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      3•5 months ago

      Plot twist: The crop is human misery.

    • @floofloof@lemmy.caOP
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      2•
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      5 months ago

      Without a doubt they will have those other use cases in mind too. Mentioning them is just not good for marketing in public.

    • @TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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      0•5 months ago

      Humans are the crops.

      • @double_quack@lemm.ee
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        0•5 months ago

        *corps

        • @0x0@programming.dev
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          1•5 months ago

          *corpses

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