How many times have you watched a Maple seed gently fall through the sky and thought to yourself that it’s like a mini helicopter? And it is. That flight is how the Maple tree gets it’s seeds as far as possible, harnessing the breeze.

Using the spiral flight that the seeds take when they fall off a tree, researchers from the University of Maryland’s Clark School of Engineering have finally managed a micro-unmanned aerial vehicle. It’s inspired by the Maple seed and mimics the useful aspects. It’s the “world’s smallest controllable single-winged rotocraft.”
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Check out this Bladez Terminator Salvation Chopper Skull. If you have ever wanted to see a Terminator head stuck to a chopper, this is for you. For $50 it features glowing LED lights in the eyes, sound effects from the film and a laser battle mode to fight other choppers in the Bladez range.

Depending on how loud this thing is, it might be fun to scare your friends at night as they see a set of glowing red eyes fly up to them.

[Likecool]

Swiss scientists from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have developed some tiny corkscrew shaped robots that can swim through liquids. They are so tiny that they could be used to repair a humans arteries. It’s about one half the width of a human hair.

The robot is made up of one part nickel, allowing it to move up to a speed of 20 micrometres per second in a low magnetic field. By manipulating the magnetic field, the robot can be steered to go where they want it.

[Robot Living]

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario have developed a microbot that weighs about three-hundredths of an ounce that hovers and moves on a three dimensional parabolic magnetic field. Altering the flow of the electromagnetic current distorts the field and propels the robot.

It’s monitored by laser sensors and by camera, and since it floats free of any sort of wiring (and power is supplied from outside the robot) it is ideal for working in clean rooms or hazardous environments. Awesome and scary at the same time huh?

UFOs are these bots from the future.

[Engadget]