Darpa Unveils Perfected Nano Hummingbird | Walyou

This type of flying machine is called an ornithopter in general, and many hobbyists have made their own. You can even buy toy ornithopters I believe. However, most cannot be controlled, and those that can probably can't be maneuvered as well as with this particular design.

http://www.ornithopter.org/

Many ornithopters use elastic bands for power, whereas this seems to be battery-based. I'm impressed with the 11 minutes of flying time. I wonder what sort of battery they are using that's so light. The weight of batteries seems to me to be the biggest issue in making smaller ornithopters.

Awesome, 11 minutes of flying is not bad considering its size and current battery technology.

It literally gives a birds eye view :)

More interesting, at small scale, aerodynamics gets all funky (the viscosity of the air becomes critically important). For small ornithopters like this, the wings aren't just flapping back and forth, they're probably rotating as well...operating more like paddles in a pond.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_air_vehicle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_number

Very cool. From the sounds of the video it is quite a bit louder than a real hummingbird, but it might pass in an intelligence gathering situation outside a window, for example.

Company who made it:

AeroVironment http://www.avinc.com/

Awesome, although my definition of "perfect" would include "quiet."

reminds me of this http://www.youtube.com/user/ciagov?blend=21&ob=5#p/c/7DA... which was developed by CIA's Office of Research and Development in the 1970s

I just don't get what's nano about it... It's about the size of a living humming bird, if not bigger.

Sorry, but the title is pure BS and linkbait. Not surprising since it's one of those sites with pictures w/ catchy subtitles to generate click traffic and OMG LOLZ photos.

Define "perfected." How is this "perfected?"

And nano? What about a larger-than-life hummingbird is nano?