WEBVTT - Microdrone Soup 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:14.200 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:16.759 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.440 Julie know it's been in the news recently. Weener's weener. 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:24.119 Well yeah, yeah, but but then below the headline, Okay, yes, yes, uh, 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:31.160 very important technological advances about drones. Yeah, tiny robots rootsiny 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:34.000 robots that could be the the proverbial fly on the 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:40.199 wall on the proverbial wall in the room where But 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:42.680 we wouldn't necessarily want that. I think that we have 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.559 enough media streaming about him. We don't necessarily need a 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:50.720 microdrone hanging out in his bedroom exactly. Yeah. Um, but yeah, 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:52.640 I mean it's it's The New York Times had a 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:56.520 great article called war evolves with drones. Some Tinese bugs 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:02.480 and also the larger, more conventional drones were recently in 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.600 the news. They were the ones that gathered intelligent on 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:09.440 Osama bin Lan's Pakistani hideaway using one of the new 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.920 stealth drones. Uh So, this is the technology that is 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:16.640 getting a lot of traction these days, and it's pretty important. 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:21.120 And the microdrone thing is incredibly cool. And definitely feeds 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.800 into my paranoia about privacy and your paranoia is that 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.560 tiny robots are listening to every word you say and 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:31.760 watching you change clothes or something. Yes, yeah, yeah, perv 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.720 tiny probos outside my window wearing little trench coats. Well 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:40.440 it's uh, it's interesting, um talking about paranoia because Iran, 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:43.280 that the government of Iran has A has shown some 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.360 paranoid that and I'm not saying it's it's uh, it's 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:50.800 it's it's bad paranoia because uh that they've they've been uh, 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:52.800 there've been a couple of stories in the last few years. 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:58.640 In two thousand eight, they they arrested a quote arrested 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.040 to pigeons that were a suspected of spying near a 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.760 uranium and richmon facility. And in two thousand seven, fourteen 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.799 squirrels were supposedly captured. That we're armed with state of 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:13.000 the art espionage equipment, um, which they sound ridiculous arresting 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.720 squirrels and and uh and and pigeons. But but the 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:19.040 charge was here that these were animals that had been 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.560 geared up with some sort of espionage equipment and were 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.560 being used by an outside force, probably the United States, 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.880 to see what they were doing. So, but imagine that 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.840 that paranoia taking a step farther to where it's where 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.359 it's the paranoia is that the squirrels may not actually 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.760 be squirrels. They may be robots. The birds maybe robots 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:41.639 spying on us. The bugs may actually be robots spying 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:45.200 on our every move and uh and if and certainly 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.520 if you're a country like Iran, uh, this could be 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:50.800 a very well possibility in the near future. Well, and 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:52.919 also think that the context too, I mean with stuck 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.920 snut in Iran, which we know is the computer virus 0:02:56.040 --> 0:03:01.520 that was developed to essentially like bring down the nuclear capacity, 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.160 shut down the system. So you can understand why they 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:06.360 might take help look around a park and start to 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.080 get a little bit paranoid about the nearest chipmunk, right, 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:12.320 especially since this is where the technology has been headed 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:16.400 and and where it's continuing to to to head with 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.840 with with some real impressive speed. Yeah, and when we 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.600 talk about a drone, let's and particularly a microdrone, let's 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.400 talk about what this is. This is essentially a super 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:30.959 fancy remote controlled plane, and it's an unmanned aerial vehicle, yes, 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:36.360 generally with some degree of autonomy. Um, there's a there's 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.560 an important distance. Like the most famous examples are the 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.320 Predator and the and the Reaper, which are have been 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:48.200 just to stand out aerial drones for the U. S. Military. Uh. 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:50.320 And we have an article on on both of these 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:52.280 on the House Stuff Work website. So if you go 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:53.720 to the House Touff House Stuff Works, go to the 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.080 search bar, putt in Predator or put in a Reaper, 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:58.680 and you'll you'll get a really nice article. Yeah, and 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.160 it'll tell you everything under the because we're not going 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:03.120 to really go into the hood with these in this podcast. 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.520 But but they are really cool. Um, I mean just 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:09.200 the technology, you know, not any judgments on how they're used. 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:14.120 But but but it's really interesting technology. So uh, it 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:16.680 basically comes down to all these things are what we 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:20.640 call in in the loop system. Okay, so they're not 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:22.599 they're not really robots out there, you know. You know, 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.040 you're not creating a machine and saying, hey, go out 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.360 and kill go out and do this job and then 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:28.919 come back and tell me how it went. On the 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.960 other hand, it's not a guy setting there you know, 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.839 uh and controlling it the whole time. It's uh, it's 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.240 programmed to a certain degree. Yeah, it's it's essentially someone 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:41.800 who's at at the controls to uh, to dictate the 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.800 application of lethal force. Right, So it's kind of a 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:51.080 hybrid between autonomy and remote control and UH. That's basically 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.480 the state of these U A vise, these UM, these 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.280 amand aerial vehicles that that are out there really in 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.080 most of the skies over military zones that that the 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.839 US is engaged in, that's right, And they're there are 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:08.040 two different types. There's of surveillance drones, right, and there 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:13.560 are combat drones with missiles. Surveillance like the UM. It 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.000 would be like a predator just just seeing what the 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:17.960 ladle land is, right or or in this case what 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.920 we're talking with us and bin Laden used to tell 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.479 where a target is and then the means of reaching 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.240 that target may actually just be troops or Yeah. And 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:31.120 it's very unusual that they will use a combat drone 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:35.600 to take out UM like a compound like UM some 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.040 op in lands which they did not, but you know, 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.880 from time to time they've taken out all kind of members. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.760 If they were say driving UM in a car, you know, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.560 across the highway or whatever, they would use UM one 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.120 of these drones to blow up the car. But again 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:53.320 this is unusual. It's more likely used for surveillance. But 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:57.279 um obviously if it's a combat drone and it's got missiles, 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.800 then there's a higher level of engagement with the person 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:05.760 was controlling it. Um. So this is from a Wired article. Rather, 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.360 this is from their their Danger Roum, their blog. Um 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.600 it says unmanned aerial vehicles are huge growth industry for 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.200 the US and its closest allies, and the source of 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.680 one of America's greatest military advantages. Starting in the mid 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.760 ninety nineties, the unarmed Predator drone helped the US build 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:25.479 an unprecedented persistent surveillance system capable of spotting targets around 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.039 the clock. Later, armed with missiles, the Predator became an 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:33.680 aerial sniper, picking off hundreds of of insurgents in Iraq, Afghanistan, 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.840 and Pakistan every year. So the Pentagon has scores of 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:42.760 communication satellites for linking drones and ground troops and imagery analysts. 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:47.200 And the Pentagon now has some seven thousand aerial drones 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.400 compared with fewer than fifty just a decade ago. So, 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:52.599 as you can see, this is a really important part 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:57.320 of how the US is is uh, sort of trying 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.280 to figure out this war on terror as their calling it, 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.560 and just general security around the world. Yeah, I mean 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:06.040 the advantages here are huge. Um, just to run through 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.720 a few of them here, I mean most obviously, you 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:12.240 replace putting a soldier into a dangerous situation and uh, 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.600 and that's why there's there's there's a lot of effort 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.120 towards creating land based drone technology too, and there have 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.880 been a number of these have been tested, but nothing 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.200 is really the standard. It hasn't been standardized in the 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.120 same way that these U A v s or are 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:30.520 ruling the skies now. Um. Then, but another important thing 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:35.040 that reduces civilian casualties have used properly and if you 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.720 have sufficient ethical programming developed, which is that's kind of 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.960 like looking forward not so much now. Um. It also 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.520 acts as a looking forward to. It could act as 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.800 a force multiplier where um, you know, we talked about 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:50.920 this in the loop situation, Man in the loop where 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.760 there's a guy controlling it, uh, you know, and he's 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:55.880 gonna jump in and you know, do the fine tuning 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.720 or the application of lethal force. But they're they're talking 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.720 about eventually moving it towards a man on the loop 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:05.880 where you basically have like one guy manning a team 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:08.720 of robots. Um. So there'd be these like you know, 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.400 maybe six different U a v S mostly doing their 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.480 own thing, with one guy supervising and uh you know, 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.720 jumping into micro manage as need be. But that would 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.000 be a force multiplier because then you have one basically 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:24.640 have one combat pilot um in like six places at once, 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:29.360 which um so. And then then there are a number 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.520 of other advantages that that break down to the use 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:35.520 of robots in warfare, which is, uh, you don't have anger, revenge, hunger, 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:40.280 fear uh thrown in there with to to modify what's 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.360 going on in the battlefield, um and uh. And it's 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.560 just and they can also generally make faster decisions than humans, 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.599 though that decision making process, of course, is something that 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:55.600 that requires a great deal of discussion. Yeah, there's been 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.000 a lot of questions ethically around that. Right so, um 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.439 because there's this this growing disconnect between the American public 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.559 and its wars and the drone. Again, the advantages that 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:08.599 you're not putting anybody in harm's way, at least on 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:12.000 the American front, right, but there is again, that distance 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.640 between what is you know, what we're actually doing to 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.080 someone else and uh, you know, the decision making process. 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:21.520 So the farther the distance is, the easier it is 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.040 to sort of make that decision, right, right, It's I 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:25.920 mean it comes back to the thing where it just 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:30.480 makes waging war potentially easier and killing potentially easier, because 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.760 I mean, on one hand, like what's the huge um like, like, 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.599 what's the worst thing that an army government engaged in 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.800 military activity wants to see? Uh? And that is uh, 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:43.920 images of coffins coming home with with dead servicemen and 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:46.439 women in it. You know, that's just that's like, you know, 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.599 pr nightmare. Things could be avoided. We've seen it, you know, 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.640 banned in the past. But but if you remove that, 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:57.280 where suddenly nothing there's like no risk to servicemen and women, 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.520 you know, suddenly there are minimal risk, Like like it 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.800 becomes a situation where the fear of one's own death 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:06.959 or the fear of death of of of one's you 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.959 one cares about, or just seeing the carnage you're not 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:12.240 going to see the carnage on your own side because 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.840 of all these robots. No, But of course the problem 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:19.240 is is that we've seen this time and again Afghanistan. 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:24.360 You have clian civilian casualties and um. The reason is 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.720 is that when when you've got this sort of technology, 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.599 it's essentially painting a target, the painting a target with 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.679 a laser. There there's a host of variables that the 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.040 computer has to calibrate the system for. So that includes wind, speed, 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:42.880 direction and other battlefield variables. So something can go wrong. 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:45.400 It's very possible in any technology, there's going to be 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.400 a margin of air and deaths are going to happen. Well, 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.240 even if it works perfectly, if you're you're using a 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.800 basically robotic army against human insurgents, humans are gonna die 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.559 on one side and robots will occasionally crash on the other. 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:02.120 And it's a there's a there's a certain there's a 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.280 large inequity there. Yeah. Yeah, And again the main problem 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.839 here is this question of autonomy as we go forward 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.320 with this technology, because it will become more and more autonomous, right, 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.120 this is the idea. I mean, you know, typically technology 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.840 doesn't go backward, right, so if we create a system 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.520 that is more enhanced that it can make more decisions 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.800 than the margin of error could possibly go up. And 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.719 we've talked with Dr Arkin from Georgia Tech before, who 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:33.560 is a robotics ethicist and uh in deals with warfare 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.600 and robots quite a bit, and he was talking about 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:41.280 programming robots with UM the Geneva protocol, right, Yeah, having 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.840 this ethnical ethical governor and the would they would dictate 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.880 how it's going to carry out it's it's military, right, 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:50.480 which makes sense. I mean, this is a this is 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:52.760 a good step forward, right because if you can program that, 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:54.760 if you can give the algorithm for for you know, 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.120 if and then then you can avoid some some of 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:59.720 the pitfalls. The problem is that people will point out 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:03.120 is a robots do not have a nuanced ability to 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.800 deal with emotions, and we know that emotions, for better 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.880 or worse, can guide our judgment. So you've you know, 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:11.680 on the one hand, you've got the passion of war 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:16.160 is reduced with these UM autonomous machines. But on the 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.880 other hand, you know, there's this empathy and so on 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.199 and so forth that sort of makes us humans and 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:25.679 human makes us UM create exceptions, is not there? Yeah, 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.480 And I mean modern warfare, especially such a chaotic situation, 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.840 and we're having there are enough obstacles and just creating 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.360 a robot that can navigate the human kitchen. Yeah, you know, 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.559 so it's uh, the the idea of creating a robot 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:43.560 that could they could seamlessly navigate the environment of war, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:49.679 an environment that humans cannot even navigate without catastrophe is uh, 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.480 it is quite a hurdle to overcome. Yeah, and so 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.440 but you know, here we've got these micro drones, which 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.600 at this point they're not lengthal right, they're just surveilling. UM. 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.760 So to talk a little bit more about the micro 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:07.079 drones and less about UM drones like the predator, just 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.440 kind of consider this stat again, this is from Wired. 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:14.679 This is since September eleventh, UM, the hours the Air 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.880 Force devotes to flying missions for intelligent surveillance and reconnaissance 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:21.720 have gone up three thousand one, most of that from 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.559 increased operations of drones. Every day, the Air Force must 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:28.280 process almost fifteen hundred hours of full motion video and 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:32.040 another fifteen hundreds still images, much of it from predators 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:36.200 and reapers on around the clock combat air patrols. Okay, 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:40.040 that is a huge amount of data. Now consider this 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:46.120 micro aviary camouflage, this microdrone, UM, these you know, tiny 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.160 little drones that are being developed and how much data 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:51.400 they're going to be amassing. But before we talk about that, 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.880 we probably talk about just the micro aviary UM drone 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:56.559 because it's pretty cool. All Right, we're gonna take a 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:58.040 quick break and then we're gonna get back to all 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:06.439 of this. So hanging there one second. This presentation is 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:13.640 brought to you by Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow, and we're 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:15.920 back when we're talking about biomimicry trying to make a 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.800 drone that looks like a bird, flies like a bird, 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:23.760 or flies like an insect, depending on you know which 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:26.680 which direction they're going there. But this is fascinating in 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:31.160 that biomamicry is generally more involved in I want to 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:34.720 solve a problem, like an engineering problem or design problem 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.520 of some kind, instead of trying to create some sort 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.120 of like reinvent the wheel, I'm just gonna look at 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.920 the way um nature has solved this problem through millions 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.440 of years of evolution, So you know, it's stuff like 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.840 I want to make a swimsuit that allows the swimmer 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.880 to uh to move faster through the water. Uh. Instead 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:54.680 of just trying to come with something off the top 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:57.400 of my head, I'm going to look at how shark 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.880 skin has evolved right right, or um or fins. I'm 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:05.040 gonna look at dolphins and see how they can actually 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.120 like eject themselves into the air and so on and 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:08.880 so far. We actually have a couple of articles on 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.480 biomimicry on the website. If you go to house stuff 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:13.880 works dot com and just throw bio mimicry into the 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:16.240 search bar, you'll find a couple of them. I think 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:19.360 I may have written two of them. Probably did I 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:21.920 don't know. Yeah, we're a handful of them. Um. But 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.160 from my understanding that they are focusing more on insects 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.640 right now rather than birds. Um. And I'm assuming that 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.240 they've done birds so far because it's very hard to 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:33.720 get you know, smaller and smaller. But birds are a 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:37.720 little bit more difficult to mimic because of their musclature 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.360 and because of the energy it takes to get them. 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:42.720 That's the interesting thing about this, because most, like I say, 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:44.480 biomimicry is about I need to solve a problem, so 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:46.160 I'm gonna see how nature did it right, This is 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:48.520 more about I mean, there's in robotics, there is that 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.160 there's also a lot of interest in how insects move 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.080 and behave because it's it's a sometimes it's a simple 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:57.120 cognitive model to look at in terms of how it's thinking. 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.400 And then also like you know, trying to create something 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.320 that's gonna move across the floor. Uh. Some oftentimes, like 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.080 a spider design just makes more sense than trying to 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.720 make it walk like a human. So but but in 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:14.080 this where they're trying to make a drone resemble the 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.280 animal form. Uh. And certainly when we're talking about something 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:23.360 that flies, uh, the nature is kind of forced to 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:27.160 follow this this winged model, this flapping winged model, which 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.760 is really not um all that that that doesn't make 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:31.760 a lot of sense from an energy standpoint. It's not 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.080 you have to spend a lot of energy to flap 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:38.200 flap wings, but nature has not yet figured out how 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.440 to evolve the rotor blade, so so that they're they're 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:44.520 they're forced to flap. Um. But we've all seen stats 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.520 about like hummingbirds, about how much food they have to 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.640 consume and how much energy they blow through to flap 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:53.840 those tiny wings so fastbeats per minute or something crazy 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:55.320 like yeah, yeah, like some of them have to go 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.200 into basically a state of hibernation and every night just 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:03.560 because because they can't burn any more energy. Um, because 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.080 it's not energy efficient. So they're having to when creating 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.800 a flap of flapping winged robot Um, you're you're having 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:16.440 to pursue u an energy inefficient design when you could 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.720 really make a more energy eficient design being inspired by it. 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:22.600 They're actually trying to mimic it so that nobody can 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:28.360 tell that it's an actual robotic hummingbird spying on you, right, Um, 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.440 So it's kind of a disingenuous form of biomimicry. Yeah, 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:35.280 it's interesting. There's that the hummingbird drone that they unveiled. Um, 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.640 it's it's still a prototype, but it can rapidly beat 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.280 its wings and it can propel the at eleven miles 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:44.920 per hour and even perch on a window. So the 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.320 problem is when you look at it, you know, if 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:49.120 you just kind of if you glance it, didn't really 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.560 look at it carefully. Okay, yeah, there's I see a bird, right, 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.240 But when you look at it, it actually looks really inelegant. 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.840 It moves, you know, kind of awkwardly, it looks mechanical. 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.520 It reminds me completely of Biboo, the owl from Clash 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.520 of the Times. Yes, the robotic owl that does the 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.280 which I love, but I don't really think would make 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.200 a great microdone right because it's very obvious. Well plus 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:14.400 the hummingbird drone it says US Air Force on the wing. 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:19.879 It's giveaway. Yeah, a little obvious. Um, but I mean 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.080 they're they're important because these micro jones could be used 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.280 to get a much better view of myriad things like 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:34.600 natural disasters, floods, fires, Um, you know if the politicians. Yes, Um, 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.880 they're used in aerial photography and and they're even used 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.840 in wildlife footage which are seen in nature documentaries. So 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.280 and again, like you know, if a building implodes and 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:47.840 there's uh, you know a lot of debris. These are 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:50.000 things that we can use to get a better beat 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.719 on things. It's not just you know, used for warfare. 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.600 So they're really interesting and uh it kind of makes 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:58.480 me wonder like if one day we're all going to 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.800 have our very own micro own that we use, like 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.760 I don't know, in in conjunction with our an iPhone app, 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:08.879 so that we're on a zip line on vacation, you know, 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:12.120 you just throw up your microdrone, get some really great footage, 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:14.399 or you leave your microdone behind to attend meetings when 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.199 you go out of town. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, anyway, 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.440 I digress. We should probably get back to the actual 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:24.920 military military applications of it, because if you if you 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.720 throw it into this this this overall design that is 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.359 this idea of like a robotic military, you can easily 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.040 imagine like the micro Jones sort of doing the first 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:37.200 level scouting and surveillance, and then there's there there's like 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.479 a higher level of surveillance with with larger flying vehicles, 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:42.359 and then you have the the attack you a these 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:47.080 little it'll actually hit the target when needed, and then meanwhile, 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.359 like all the humans are back at their base. Just 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.280 yeah yeah, and they're also I wanted to mention us too, 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:56.640 they're trying to increase the area that they can actually surveil. 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:58.879 And right now they have what is called a soda 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.840 straw view, uh you know with the with the drones, 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.440 but um, they're looking at a gorgon stair technology that's 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.800 what they're calling it. Yeah, and again that's another great 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:12.000 band title, right well, and another clash in the Times reference, 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:14.800 right oh, Because the idea is it's like a lot 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:16.440 of little straws that are going to be like the 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.480 snakeheads on the Medusa. I'm assuming so that are just 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:22.960 going to freeze the landscape that it's looking at. It 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:24.640 seems like they we just want to want. They must 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:26.560 be really into Greek mythology or Clash of the times, 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:28.879 because it seems like you just wanna, you know, compare 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.080 to the the the eye structure of a fly. Yeah, 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:34.880 I don't know whoever is uh doing all the marketing 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.760 for this really has a good beat on histrionics, I 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:41.399 have to say, because I mean if the the stealth 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.320 drone that was used in Pakistans called the Beast of Kindahar, 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.479 I mean nuts, how do you not love that? Uh? 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:50.560 But anyway, this gorgon stair technology can capture live video 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:54.760 an entire city. But that requires two thousand analysts process 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.480 the data feeds from a single drone compared with nineteen 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:01.400 analysts per drone today. That being side, this is something 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:04.880 technology that's going to be used pretty soon. Um, that's 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:07.640 not much of a force multiplier. Though if that many 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:10.639 people were required to sift through the data exactly exactly, 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:13.000 and then again that's you couldn't actually send those people 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.439 out to perch on, uh, somebody's shoulder in a war 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:20.440 zone or you know, in an enemy nation's capital. That's 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:23.760 the rub. We cannot shrink ourselves yet yet yet. But 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:25.359 of course what does this do. This is kind of 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:30.240 freaking out some people. Why because this could be used 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.200 for non warfare applications. And in fact, there's a great 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:37.159 Washington Post article called domestic use of aerial drones by 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:41.480 law enforcement likely to prompt privacy debate and you know 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.440 how this feeds into my whole privacy thing. By two 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:47.480 thousand and thirteen, the f A expects to have formulated 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:50.600 new rules that would allow police across the country to 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:54.160 routinely fly lightweight on armed drones up to four feet 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:57.000 above ground, high enough for them to be largely invisible 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:01.680 eyes in the sky. And uh, it's it's cost like 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:04.520 fifty bucks, so it's really not that expensive. It's actually 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:07.320 less than a police helicopter. So it's very likely that 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:10.080 this is going to be used a lot in the future, 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:13.000 but it can with the The rub is is that 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:16.440 they can record activities of public below with high resolution 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:20.560 infrared and thermal imaging cameras. So you'll reach a point 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:22.960