Beats that Microcopter anyday

The University of California, Berkeley, using funding from everyone’s favourite crazy military research arm DARPA, has created the first radio controlled flying Rhinoceros Beetle. This first step to cyborg attack bugs was made possible using 6 electrodes connected to the brain and muscles allowing a radio controlled chip and battery to be used to control the beetle removing it’s free will. It’s hoped that further revisions will be able to remove the battery and be powered by the bug itself. The Rhinoceros Beetle has a maximum payload of 3g whilst the controller system only ways 1.3g. This leaves plenty of wiggle room to fit micro-nukes, survelliance equipment or people blasting lasers, whatever DARPA has cooked up. Of course this would be the ultimate in annoyance devices, flying bug that you could land in your collegues’ coffee? Sweet!

[Via Tech On]