
Darpa Wants Insect-Scale Robots for a Micro-Olympics - robg
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/darpa-wants-your-insect-scale-robots-for-a-micro-olympics
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dzhiurgis
Just happen to watch rubber band-powered planes video. Penny planes are 3.5
grams and Peanut planes are 8 grams:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y22mV2smkA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y22mV2smkA)

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overcast
A world I never knew existed. That rubberband talk was crazy.

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dzhiurgis
Here’s another one - gliders that can reach 835 kmh:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv7-YM4wno8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv7-YM4wno8)

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rjkennedy98
Small scaled robots are so much more amazing and powerful (and dangerous) than
large ones. Small robots can go anywhere. They can also cluster and swarm and
be more difficult to take down. Frankly, I'm always surprised that the
military spends so much time making robots that look like humans or dogs or
the like, when both individual and swarms on nano robots seem so much more
powerful.

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stefanpie
I immediately thought of the "Hated in the Nation" episode of Black Mirror.

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throwaway080383
Prey by Michael Chrichton is a nice predecessor of this as well.

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newswriter99
>Yesterday, DARPA announced a new program called SHRIMP: SHort-Range
Independent Microrobotic Platforms.

When did DARPA turn into a company from the Fallout universe?

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angel_j
DARPA as the cause of the fallout universe.

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classichasclass
Related: Rolls-Royce's "cockroach" inspection robots.
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-19/cockroach...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-19/cockroach-
bots-roam-air-show)

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blisterpeanuts
The possibility to do great harm with robot swarms is real; load them with a
nerve agent or explosive and you have instant mayhem that is almost
unstoppable.

I hope we will come up with some way to control/disable these things, or we
may end up with a few psychopaths terrorizing entire cities.

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ams6110
Yes, I came here to say that before anyone gets excited about this, understand
that the technology _will_ be weaponized. So if you were unhappy about your
company providing administrative software to ICE or the Border Patrol, think
twice before lending your talents to this sort of thing.

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robg
@dang - Why the title change here? The "Olympic-themed competitions" were the
most interesting thing here to me, given DARPA's success with previous
competitions and spurring innovations.

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noobermin
Someone suggested this to me as a possibility. Imagine a swarm of bugs with
nothing more than a small amount of poison as a payload and an injector of
kinds. Kind of scary to think about.

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ataggart
Or 3g of shaped explosives.

[https://youtu.be/HipTO_7mUOw?t=67](https://youtu.be/HipTO_7mUOw?t=67)

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mirimir
This will eventually become utility fog. Billions of billions of nanobots that
can cooperate and assemble autonomously. It will fundamentally be magic.
Rajaniemi's "Flower Prince" novels include lots of utility fog. Also, I think,
Morgan's "Land Fit for Heroes" novels, but way far in the future, after the
technology's been forgotten, so people see it as magic.

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anonytrary
Then civilization will destroy itself and when it starts to rekindle, there
will be rumors and tales of forgotten magic and there will be those that
denounce such magic and reinvent science all over again, only to recreate said
magic hundreds of years later.

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rmeineke
I hope the program manager is invited to the Voices from DARPA podcast.

[https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/podcast](https://www.darpa.mil/about-
us/podcast)

Always worth a listen. (Though I always feel like a not-so-smart underachiever
after listening.)

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hobls
That’s really neat. I don’t know anything about the field —- how accessible is
this type of contest to small teams of advanced hobbyists? Are we going to see
mostly companies with advanced equipment competing? I’m curious about the
competitive landscape.

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windows_tips
Seems like if your bot can or could meet the expectations of the challenge(s)
the contest is open to you.

I'd be wary of signing anything to compete though.

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hobls
Well my bots are all software and they’re very bad at piling rocks. I’m just
curious what the hobbyists who are in this space think of the competition, and
whether they can be competitive.

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soared
Does anyone know why these events are focused on physical performance? It
seems like gathering data (the "search" portion previously discussed) would be
more focused on data collection rather than moving objects, jumping, etc.
Before seeing the events I was imagining something like move 50 meters while
transmitting video, or transmit temperature data while flying for 5 meters.

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jokoon
I always imagined that those robots would be ideal for spying on people.

At least it would make targeted spying better, and might reduce the need for
the NSA to capture internet traffic.

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Transfinity
I feel like I've seen 3 or 4 big interesting DARPA initiatives announced in
the last week or so. Is something going on or is it just a coincidence?

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crpearce
Possibly related to Russia’s recent claims about advancements in military tech
[http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/22270/russia-
releases-v...](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/22270/russia-releases-
videos-offering-an-unprecedented-look-at-its-six-new-super-weapons)

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kevin_thibedeau
Most of those were just old weapons systems retrofitted for air launch.

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chillingeffect
Technology is often considered neutral. It represents progress through equal
benefits to all.

However, internet tech, has shown asymmetric benefits. Those with access to
information individuals don't have, such as Cambridge Analytica, and therefore
foreign governments, have benefited more than individuals.

Before yielding to the dopaminergic amazement of this insect-robot technology,
how about your thoughts on how this will affect and benefit those with evil
intentions, such as foreign governments, vs. everyday people, such as facebook
users?

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JKCalhoun
Espionage is, to me, the most obvious use.

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crazynick4
That and assassinations.

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lucas_membrane
Why would someone who controlled this technology practice only notable
killings?

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crazynick4
Fair point, a poor choice of words on my part there.

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godelmachine
Are there any research papers pertaining to this program? Thanks :)

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intrasight
Probably all secret

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__m
What’s their policy on doping?

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eigenloss
For those confused, title was changed from something about "tiny robot
Olympics."

