Breaking News
Free Grocery Stores in NYC? 
The Epstein Files: A Peek Behind the Dark Curtain, Pt. 1
Make Your Own Herbal Tea Blends and Save $$$
Prince Andrews Arrested, Trump Releasing Alien Files, Supreme Court Tariff Decision...
Top Tech News
New Spray-on Powder Instantly Seals Life-Threatening Wounds in Battle or During Disasters
AI-enhanced stethoscope excels at listening to our hearts
Flame-treated sunscreen keeps the zinc but cuts the smeary white look
Display hub adds three more screens powered through single USB port
We Finally Know How Fast The Tesla Semi Will Charge: Very, Very Fast
Drone-launching underwater drone hitches a ride on ship and sub hulls
Humanoid Robots Get "Brains" As Dual-Use Fears Mount
SpaceX Authorized to Increase High Speed Internet Download Speeds 5X Through 2026
Space AI is the Key to the Technological Singularity
Velocitor X-1 eVTOL could be beating the traffic in just a year
US Air Force developing remote-controlled bird-like 'microdrones' with flapping wings
The US Air Force says it's developing microdrones that can flap their wings and change wingbeat mid-flight.
The organisation's elite research lab is working with designers from Airion Health LLC to prototype a remote-controlled mini air vehicle that can imitate either insect or bird flight, for surveillance purposes.
The microdrone will have the ability to change velocity without the support of a high-powered computer, according to a service release that states the team are using a 2014 patent for their project.
"Controllable forces would be generated by the wings based on position and velocity profiles, resulting in time-varying wing upstrokes and downstrokes, which, at times, may be asymmetrical," the release states.
The microdrone could be used for surveillance in the field or over military bases; or to stake out targets before personnel or other aircraft get to the battlefield, military.com reported.
The release also states that Arion and the Air Force Research Lab will develop a workable "micro air vehicle," or MAV, by early next year.
In January this year the service signed a non-exclusive patent license agreement, or PLA, with Airion for the licensing of the government-owned invention.