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Tiny flying insect drones now a reality: See the video of controlled flight
“It’s been more than a decade in the making, but now Harvard University researchers have developed a tiny flying drone that is barely larger than a quarter.
Robotics researchers at the Ivy League school have achieved a first, reports Forbes: the creation of robotic insects that are capable of flight. A paper detailing their work was recently published in the journal Science. Here’s an abstract of the research:
Flies are among the most agile flying creatures on Earth. To mimic this aerial prowess in a similarly sized robot requires tiny, high-efficiency mechanical components that pose miniaturization challenges governed by force-scaling laws, suggesting unconventional solutions for propulsion, actuation, and manufacturing. To this end, we developed high-power-density piezoelectric flight muscles and a manufacturing methodology capable of rapidly prototyping articulated, flexure-based sub-millimeter mechanisms.
We built an 80-milligram, insect-scale, flapping-wing robot modeled loosely on the morphology of flies. Using a modular approach to flight control that relies on limited information about the robot’s dynamics, we demonstrated tethered but unconstrained stable hovering and basic controlled flight maneuvers. The result validates a sufficient suite of innovations for achieving artificial, insect-like flight.”
Via Natural News
Revealed: 10 Drones Hijacking Your Privacy
“Because there is too much money to be made and too many special interest groups that want them, drones are here to stay. Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution sees drones as a “game-changing technology, akin to gunpowder, the steam engine, the atomic bomb—opening up possibilities that were fiction a generation earlier but also opening up perils that were unknown a generation ago.”
Before 2010 there was some small hope that the massive deployment of domestic drones could be avoided. That hope was lost when President Obama signed the FAA Reauthorization Act into law in 2012. Once reserved for the battlefields over Iraq and Afghanistan, the FAA opened up drone use for a wide range of domestic functions, both public and private. By 2020 there will be at least 30,000 drones occupying U.S airspace.
The kinds of drones that are popping up in U.S. skies are not the kind one expects after seeing Predators on the news. These are micro-sized craft that can go undetected as they hover above our cities and homes conducting 24/7 surveillance. Some of the kinds of drones becoming prevalent include:”
See the list of 4th Amendment destroyers at Off the Grid News
Leak Shows US Hid The Truth About Drone Strikes
“New evidence has emerged that proves the US intentionally lied about the true nature of its controversial drone strike operations.
The leaked intelligence documents reveal that the US has been targeting individuals who pose no immediate threat, with half of the slaughtered people being labeled simply as “unknown extremists.”
While the files obtained by the McClatchy news agency show half of the deceased as innocent, other calculations show that a more accurate percentage of innocents killed in Pakistan is as high as 80%.
The files also show that Pakistan’s intelligence agency was working with the US while its government was condemning the use of drone strikes.”
Via Activist Post
The Eye In The Sky– Is It Really For Your Own Protection? of course not
“Once again, the federal government is trying to sell us on the fact that the multitudes of drone aircraft they’ve ordered are for your own protection. Drones in and of themselves aren’t new, but they are most certainly new to the American people in that they are a technology we invented to be used mostly on someone else. In yet another bizarre case in which a wartime technology is being turned upon the American people, drones are becoming more and more widespread right here in America.
Not all drones look like the classic Predator and Reaper style drones – large, plane-like aircraft that are essentially as big as a single-seat jet aircraft. While the Predators and Reapers are in use here already (our friends at the Department of Homeland Security have at least ten Predators that we know of), most drones are smaller and have varying capabilities, depending on the model. The drones that are being rolled out against the American people vary from small, hand-launched models that at first resemble model airplanes, all the way to multi-rotor helicopter-style drones that can loiter for hours over a location – plus everything in between.”
FAA Predicts 10,000 Drones Could Be In the Skies By 2020
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts 10,000 commercial drones could be in the skies by 2020 after guidelines are approved. For now, Congress has asked the FAA to write regulations on civil operation of small unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace and submit them by 2015.
“Once enabled, commercial UAS markets will develop. There are many potential ways for a company to generate revenue from UAS applications, whether from new markets or more efficient applications in established markets. Based upon the expected regulatory environment, FAA predicts roughly 10,000 active commercial UASs in five years,” states the FAA Aerospace Forecast for Fiscal Years 2012-2032.”
Via CNS News
DARPA-funded V-Bat drone could be flying over the United States in the near future
“The V-Bat drone, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), could very well be flying over the United States soon due relatively low asking price and features which some of the many domestic drone operators would likely find quite appealing.
While the drone is far from typical, it is still not all that astounding given the reality of deadly miniature drones, tiny helicopter drones used for surveillance, drones capable of perpetual flight, silent drones, solar powered drones or drones equipped with unbelievably powerful cameras, automatic tracking, facial recognition, EMP missiles, fully automated weapons systems and more.
This particular drone will be available for only $350,000, according to Slate, which would likely make it attractive to the countless entities already allowed by the FAA to fly drones in the United States.
“Kitted out with high-res cameras and laser sensors, the drone is designed to be used for everything from urban surveillance to wildlife monitoring,” according to Slate.”
Via Activist Post
Congress Declared War on Sept. 14, 2001
” On Sept. 14, 2001, the U.S. Congress in effect declared war when it passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) as a joint resolution. The vote was overwhelmingly one-sided. In the House, the vote was 420 Ayes, 1 Nay, and 10 Not Voting. In the Senate, the vote was 98 Ayes, 0 Nays, and 2 Present/Not Voting. Rep. Barbara Lee was the nay vote in the House.
One may argue about the wisdom of this measure and the logic of this measure. One may evaluate the quality of the measure as law. One may argue about the conduct of the military operations under the Executive that has been enabled by this measure. One may evaluate the ramifications for the U.S. government, for the world, and for Americans. Indeed, one may form innumerable opinions from many perspectives about this measure. But one cannot deny that this AUMF set in motion the ongoing war on terror that is being conducted by the U.S. government.
The Obama administration has made an effort to change the terminology describing the war. For example, it doesn’t like the words “war on terror”, and it has used substitutes. This effort is not central to the conduct of the military operations enabled under this resolution. As long as the resolution remains in place, its existence is what is central.
The Obama administration was critical of how the Bush administration was conducting military operations. After it took power, it changed the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also began to use more drone attacks and to use them in countries that Bush had not. These changes in military operations are also not central to their existence. What matters is that the resolution authorizes military operations of broad scope, in ways to be determined by the President. What matters is that this resolution exists at all.”
Via Lew Rockwell
Stand with Rand! Sen. Rand Paul takes determined stand against insanity of Obama’s claimed power to kill Americans
“What kind of President refuses to say he will not kill Americans sitting in a cafe in Seattle, or walking down the street in Los Angeles, or driving a tractor on a farm in Texas? A President who respects no law and no rights of citizens as described in the Constitution.
That President, of course, is Barack Obama.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul took a stand against tyranny by enduring a long filibuster on the floor of the U.S. Senate. As of this writing, the filibuster is well over 10 hours long and running. In taking this opportunity to take a stand against tyranny, he showed the murderous intent of President Obama and the outright criminal attorney general known as “Mr. Fast & Furious” Eric Holder.”
Via Natural News
Dear American: It’s An “Extraordinary Circumstance” And This Drone’s Coming For You
“In response to Rand Paul’s letter asking whether “the President has the power to authorize lethal force, such as a drone strike, against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, and without trial,” we now have an answer. Attorney General Holder responds, in a word “Yes.” Of course, it is caveated with ‘extraordinary circumstances’ and ‘necessity’ but as Mike Krieger so subtly summarizes: “the military can assassinate U.S. citizens on U.S. soil.” As NBC reports, the letter from Holder surfaced just as the Senate Intelligence Committee was voting 12-3 to approve White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan to be CIA director. The vote came after the White House agreed to share additional classified memos on targeted drone strikes against U.S. citizens overseas. As Rand Paul commented, “this is more than frightening… it is an affront to the Constitutional due process rights of all Americans.”"
Via Zero Hedge
Congress Goes Bipartisan – Against Civil Liberties
“Civil liberties are theoretically a bipartisan concern. Conservative Republicans who don’t like Obamacare’s “death panels” should be outraged by presidential kill lists. Liberal Democrats who defend due process ought to be offended by secret surveillance law. Protectors of the First and Second Amendments should have a high regard for the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth.
Yet restricting civil liberties is what actually commands bipartisan support in Washington. The same Congress that barely averted the fiscal cliff swiftly passed extensions of warrantless wiretapping and indefinite detention, assuring Americans that only the bad guys will be affected but evincing little interest in establishing whether this is really the case.
The same Congress that failed to come up with an agreement to avoid sequestration appears to have bipartisan majorities in favor of profligate drone use at home and abroad. Lawmakers are generally less exercised about the confirmation of likely CIA chief John Brennan than Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.”
Via Alt Market
