Spy plane inspired by hover fly British scientists have designed a tiny spy

Spy plane inspired by hover fly

British scientists have designed a tiny spy-plane which carries a microscopic camera and flaps like a hover fly.

The "flapping wing micro air vehicle" measures just six inches by five inches and could be used to fly though open windows to photograph terrorist hold-ups.

The idea for the device came during the peacekeeping operation in Sarajevo, reports The Times where snipers could always hide from spy satellites and conventional spy planes.

Dr Rafat Zbikowski, of Cranfield University, said, like a fly, the camera has to be low-speed and capable of hovering and darting movement.

Can anyone else see the problem here? How many terrorists leave the windows open?

I was lucky enough to see the camera, it is tiny, about a third the depth of a cheap CMOS camera you can get for £30. About the size of a really big housefly eye, except for the extra electronics on the back. The smallest spy-plane I know of is American, and is the size of an old 50p piece. You can fly it inside a room, but it is fixed wing, not "insect-like", or bio-mimetic.