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Tiny Flying Robots

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Today’s post comes from idea man and envisioneer Spin Williams.

Here at The Meeting That Never Ends we’re thrilled to pieces over advances that have been made lately on the creation of very Tiny Flying Robots (T.F.R.)!

these-flying-robot-flies-will-haunt-you-video

When I was a kid, I was allergic to bee stings. I used to get totally freaked out when a bee came anywhere near me. I would react by running in circles, waving my arms wildly over my head, and crying for mercy. My brother would weep with laughter as I panicked. My terror was wonderful entertainment for him – as it always is with older brothers and their little siblings.

My mother encouraged me to calm down by trying to picture things from the insect’s point of view.

“Imagine, ” she said, “that people ran away whenever you approached. How would you feel? The bee can’t help being a bee, so why make it worse for him by having such a fit?”

I’ll always love my mom for having such a good heart, but this bit of advice never worked for me. I suffered with a severe case of Grade School Cooties from the time I was 5 until about age 12, so people DID run away when I approached, and I knew it sucked. So I didn’t care about the bee’s feelings. I could keep humans at a distance, but bees were so small and fast my defenses were useless against them. The notion of one getting too close to me was positively mortifying.

To this day, I cannot think about anything but my own sudden death whenever there is a bee around.

But if I had my own swarm of T.F.R., I could deploy them as a cloud to surround my head and keep the REAL bees away.

I know people worry about the possible unprincipled government use of Little Insect-Like Drones to invade the privacy of law-abiding citizens, but I see them as being so much more useful for individuals like me. T.F.R. could be configured as a potential force field, a personal space-maker, and an affordable airborne army.

Or they could become an especially fierce substitute for hair.

I can think of all sorts of reasons why everyone would like to have their own squadron of diminutive flyers. Filling the air with tiny buzzers that are at your command would be extremely empowering. And like our very own Defense Department, I refuse to think about how enemies might eventually use the same technology against me.

But they wouldn’t dare. We’re America!

I love the future – I wish it was here already!

Your pal at T.M.T.N.E.,
Spin Williams

I suspect Spin will soon get his wish – T.F.R. will be available on a widespread basis within five years. How do I know? I little buzzing machine whispered it in my ear!

How would you deploy your Tiny Flying Robots?

43 thoughts on “Tiny Flying Robots”

  1. Good morning. I can think of a few ways the tiny robots could help around the house. I would think that they could care of all of the dusting. That would be great because I don’t care much for doing the dusting. How about dog training. I could use them to distract the dog when he is bothering us by barking at people passing by the house. Perhaps they could be employed to freak out the cats that venture into our yard to hunt song birds. I would think those cats would stay away after being chased by the robots a few times.

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    2. I’m laughing out loud. When I first read this bit this morning I couldn’t for the life of me think what I would have little flying robots do. Then in the car on the way to work, I thought, well if they could DUST, they’d be great. Or mop the kitchen floor… you know little tiny mops on their little tiny robot feet.

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  2. If this morning is any indication of things to come with Daughter during her difficult-to-wake-up-in-the-morning teenage years, a few TFRs to deployed into her room to wake her up might be just the thing. Five years from now is probably about when I’ll really need them, so the timing is good. Perhaps one could have a teeny tiny speaker and I could be That Bad Mom Who Wakes Up Her Kid with “Ride of the Valkyries”…

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    1. “Ride of the Valkyries” is my cell phone ring. Bonus that it gives you an ear bug whenever it rings…

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    2. We used to use the “move it, move it” song from Madagascar-great fun that-of course, that was back in the days when wake-up time was slightly later than our current 5:30am, so I was always up for awhile first.

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  3. I think high school principals could use them in place of detention to swarm naughty kids whenever they were in the hallways. As long as the kids were sitting quietly in class, the robots would leave them alone. They could also be used for surveillance, swarming kids in class or other parts of the school when they were acting up.

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    1. If a principal could use the robots to solve problems with handling difficult kid in a good way, I would be in favor of that approach. I have seen some principals in action who would probably just use the robots to aid them in their excessively heavy handed manner of handling problem kids.

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        1. I just see increased safety for all concerned, improved learning, and reduced drama and bullying.

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        2. or else. in china all children sit quietyly and make no sounds. if they stand up and act interested in something ofr have a thought and act out on it they are reprimanded and told to sit with the other children quietly. this results in excellent worker bees and i am sure that saftey and no bullying would come with it but so would no creativity or taking chances. we have enough of a police state today. i trust no one to tell me when my actions are ok and not ok. some of my best stuff comes from doing not ok activities. much more so int eh past than today but i know for certain if i had been under surveliance these things would never have taken place. that is your point exactly. i say no to the state ruled by the powers that rule you realize there is a benifit but i say the price paid is too high.
          but they could bring me a beer or fly off to colorado and open me a recreational marijuana account

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        3. You seem in full rebel mode today, tim. Guess I see some merit in authority keeping chaos within reasonable bounds, even in schools. Next thing you know, we’ll have armed NRA folks balking at the idea of any gun control marching on Washington with loaded weapons. What? You mean that’s already happening? Never mind.

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        4. I didn’t mind if the kids in my classes when I was a sub teacher were not on their best behavior. I did mind if any kids kept his fellow students from doing their work or kept me from helping the class. I would send them to the office if they got in the way of other kids doing their work or getting help. There were a few times when I would have liked to have sent a drone to watch some kids were not behaving well out in the halls where I couldn’t see them.

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  4. Morning–
    Daughter has a bad cold so letting her sleep in today.

    I have been fascinated by helicopters for years. Last Christmas my son bought me a small remote control helicopter and I spent hours flying it around the kitchen and living room. The dog still cringes and slinks away when I get it out. My wife was very patient with me as I bashed it into cupboards, sink or table, but when it bounced off the oil lamp I knew enough to be done. For that day.
    To imagine TFRs swarming around both fascinates and creeps me out. What if it got tangled in my hair?? (I do have a little hair!) Or I could swallow it?
    I know a guy out on tour with a play and he carries one of those quad copters with him for amusement. But there has also been serious talk of mounting cameras on it and using it to inspect the flying rig of his show; That’s not five years out; that’s here and now.

    Here is a video of a lighting demonstation using the quad copters. Not quite here and now for me.
    http://youtu.be/cseTX_rW3uM?t=1m45s

    Still, TFRs?? Huh!

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      1. That’s the problem with technology
        What if it doesn’t listen
        Dr Larry Kyle will enjoy this. Strawberries and cherries that fly into your mouth, corn husking robots
        Fill the gas tank change the oil robots
        Iron my shirt shine my shoes robot every thing on my to do list could be choreographed to be done by tfrs. Dog food at 6, run The tub aNd have cup of tea ther for me. Dusting sure but painting vacumming flippinga grilled cheese
        I wont feel bad training robots with no concern for emotional consequences like dogs and kids and elephants. If they don’t behave send them in for reprogramming
        Last thing one needs is a robot. With a mind of its own let alone a million tiny flying ones
        Right Hal?

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        2. They could follow the cats around and present a single use kitty box when the cats indicates it is ready
          These are smart little bots

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        3. Well, I guess tiny robots that do things for us would probably be programed to do those thing when we aren’t there which could lead to problems. I was thinking more of robots that are remotely control and would be used with a person controlling them. I guess I am still kind of old school and it didn’t occur to me that the robots might be programed to work without anyone there to control them.

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  5. Today, I actually have about 30 tiny robots attached to my scalp, forehead & chest. I just got hooked up to a 24-hour EEG computer in which even blinking gets recorded through these wires. The only hard part of this for me is having Nicorette gum in my mouth every waking hour;
    any chewing (even eating) blurs the brain wave readings being recorded! I was instructed to just “park” it and greatly limit any actual chewing. It’s a really good thing that the tech noticed my gum chewing while I was there because at the rate I chew, the entire test would be nothing but one big blur!

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    1. Not sure I understand, Cb. Do you normally chew Nicorette, or is it part of the test? Good luck on the test in either case.

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      1. Yes – but “normally” is an understatement! 29 years isn’t really normal, PJ. Had the tech installing the wires not noticed this, the whole test would’ve been invalidated due to how gum chewing overrides the brain wave readings!

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        1. Very interesting. I wonder what chewing does, and I’m assuming anything, that would invalidate the data. Do you know? Chemicals released in the process, I’m guessing?

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        2. My guess is not chemicals but the muscular impulse. If this technology measures blinking, it must be plenty sensitive enough to pick up chewing.

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    2. i would be happy if the tiny robots could be programed to keep cabbage butterflies and squash borer moths away from my garden as well as other pests that fly into my garden and damage my vegetables.

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  9. I think a couple of those keeping a respectful distance, only getting close enough to remind me of scheduled events in a timely fashion would be nice. No matter where I am, no matter what form I use, I epically fail using a calendar. Mostly, I do ok carrying stuff in my head, but it’s not a foolproof system…..

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    2. Now, that \’s a brilliant idea, bill. Our bee population seems in imminent danger of eradication.

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      1. I was just this afternoon listening to something on MPR about the fact that about 30 percent of the honeybee population has not been surviving the winter the last few years. At that rate, we’re going to need the help of TFRs sooner than five years.

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        1. Wish the solution were that easy, bill. I’m afraid that is it a real life crises that we don’t yet completely understand the magnitude of.

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    1. There are various computer applications that let you store data but only for a limited amount of time. After the set time has elapsed, that data is deleted. I really wish my fridge worked the same way.

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  12. They would be responsible for removing thousand of leaves that the pin oak just dropped from all the flower beds; then they can keep the weeding done. Guess where I’ve been a good portion of the day…

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