RoboBees can fly and swim. What's next? Laser vision

An article in Smithsonian Magazine reports on research by Karthik Dantu, assistant professor of computer science, to shrink technology used in lidar, or light detection and ranging, to give insect-sized drones the ability to navigate themselves toward a goal without being driven there by a human operator. Conventional cameras couldn’t be used, he said, because the robots are too small – depth perception with cameras requires they are spaced a minimum distance apart, like eyes, and there just isn’t that kind of room on the drone.

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http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/robobees-can-fly-and-swim-whats-next-laser-vision-180957308/?no-ist