More: Defense Department documents describe nearly 100 different models in use today, some as tiny as birds, and some the size of small planes.

All told, the nation's fleet of flying robots logged more than 160,000 flight hours last year -- a more than fourfold increase since 2003.

A recent report by the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College warned that if traffic rules are not clarified soon, the glut of unmanned vehicles "could render military airspace chaotic and potentially dangerous."

The Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems project aims to create literal shutterbugs -- camera-toting insects whose nerves have grown into their internal silicon chip so that wranglers can control their activities. DARPA researchers are also raising cyborg beetles with power for various instruments to be generated by their muscles.

...they bore into your brain. the little ones. Watch out particulary for the insects, mosquitoes which inject killer venom.

I know you are being sarcastic but it did make me think. The article does mention using computer chips to control the insects, where they are going. This opens up all sorts of clandestine possibilities.

Was it just a coinicidence that someone comes down with malaria, west nile virus....... what other germ carrying insects could be directed towards you or your food source.

Your cleverness is thought provoking. Thanks.

Forces me to recall once again the spidery-bots from Minority Report. It's going to be a very nasty world.

Wonder what our founding fathers would think?

Hard to have a rebellion when your constantly being spied upon and dust particles can be used as motion detectors.

Well, I was kind of being flippant, not really sarcastic, as I feel the latter implies a intellectual or moral superiority. More a bit of humor laced with fear of possibility.

I think some of the most amazing technology comes from military and clandestine sources that trickle down to mainstream after months or years of use in secret.

It wouldn't shock me to discover, say, in 10 years time, that the most implausible things we could deem possible are already true.

Exactly, I remember reading the Washington Post in the mid 80's about crowd control technologies that the military was researching and it was pretty alarming. One hopes it is put to a beneficial use.

I remember in particular powerful low frequency energy waves that could be used, either to zap a beach invasion area, or a crowd. Since the brain works off electrochemical pulses it would leave the populace in a zombie like state.

Sorry about the choice of words, sarcastic was not the proper choice. Thanks for broadening my vocabulary and adding to the commentary.

Man, they've got that and a heck of a lot more nifty stuff. When's any of it gonna come to any real use though, I wonder.