The movies Innerspace and Fantastic Voyage both featured
miniature submarines, piloted by miniaturized humans, roaming
around inside a live patient. As the trend continues towards
unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs) both in the air and in the
water it seems the movies had half the story right – that of the
miniature vehicle. For example, researchers in Japan have
developed a self-propelled endoscope [source: Popular Science]
that can swim mermaid-like through our digestive system. The
other half of the story – miniaturized human pilots – may make
for a more exciting storyline but it looks destined to remain
fiction for quite a while longer – along with the elusive Star
Trek teleportation system. Full-sized humans are becoming
increasingly scarce in airplanes thanks to advances in unmanned
aerial vehicles, so I can't see how miniaturized humans are
going to have a role in miniature UAVs anyway. Recent blog posts
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