Researchers at Georgia Tech have created a robotic dragonfly that can hover, dive, and climb like a real insect. With the help of a $1,000,000 grant from the Air Force, the team has built multiple prototypes of the consumer device and is now working on an Indiegogo project to sell the basic dragonfly for $99 and an upgraded version for $179. The ultimate version will cost $399 although they expect it to cost $1,500 retail.
Founded by a team of scientists including Dr. Jayant Ratti and Emanuel Jones, the dragonfly has an SDK and can be used to map spaces, create internal visual models, and automated patrolling. It’s great for hobbyists who want to experiment with biomimetics and these little guys can camouflage themselves and look just like real dragonflies from afar.
The “elite” model is the coolest, by far. They write:
You can also get a swarm package of up to 8 dragonflies, which sounds like it could get fun/dangerous.