robo-animals, animal robots, and crittercams lie insects
electronically modified to suit our purposes: Mosquitoes (1st
image) In June, Network World ran an article about the
development, over the last several years, of micro air vehicles
(MAVs) - insect-sized devices disguised as dragonflies or
mosquitoes and operated remotely as spy drones. While the image
above is a fabrication, and robotic insects capable of landing
on a person's skin and using their needles to take a DNA sample
or inject a tracking device are (apparently) things of science
fiction, Snopes does not dispute the development of MAVs by the
U.S. Government. Cockroaches (2nd image) North Carolina State
University engineer Alper Bozkurt and colleagues are surgically
implanting electrodes in the antennae and rear sensors of
roaches, and attaching tiny backpacks that contain a wireless
control system, a locator beacon, and a tiny microphone. The
miniature equipment turns the bugs into "biobots" (biological
robots) and allows the scientists to cont