Minority Report-Style Bots Coming Soon?

May 2, 2008 -- In a development that seems straight from Hollywood, a new project aims to design teams of bio-inspired microrobots that could one day monitor terrorists or search for victims at disaster sites.

The five-year, $38 million Army Research Laboratory project combines industry, university, and defense expertise.

"Minority Report was probably one of the inspirations for this project," said William Devine of BAE Systems, the major partner in the project, known as the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) Collaborative Technology Alliance. "We've been showing the movie to our researchers to inspire them."

BAE and the other groups already have working microrobots and expect them to be ready for customized projects in 12 to 18 months.

The first microrobots will most likely only have one mode of transportation and one sensor, such as a spider-inspired walker equipped with a camera.

As the sensors and transportation methods use less power and require less space, the designers will pack more of both onto the robots.

To do all this, scientists will work to reduce the size and energy consumption of existing sensors and transmitters by a factor of 10 to 100, said Devine, while also looking at how animals perform the same tasks the microrobots will be designed for.