Butterfly Drone

The size of an overgrown moth, this is one of the worlds smallest drones...

Drones come in all sizes.

They can be large as a 747 Jet or even small as a butterfly...

Israeli engineers are working on perfecting their Butterfly Drone (or Insect Drone), a drone small as a large butterfly. The virtually noiseless Butterfly Drone flaps its almost translucent wings 14 times per second, allowing it the ability to hover and even fly indoors.

"The butterfly's advantage is its ability to fly in an enclosed environment. There is no other aerial vehicle that can do that today," said Dubi Binyamini, head of IAI's mini-robotics department.

The Butterfly Drone weighs only 20 grams and is equipped with a 0.15-gram camera and memory card.

An interesting twist in the plot comes with bio-mimicry, when technology imitates nature. When this device was tested at a height of 50-meters, birds and flies tended to fall behind the device arranging into a flock.

The IAI, Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, needs two more years to polish the Butterfly Drone. Right now they're working on creating a special helmet which will allow the user to see through the Butterfly's eyes in real time, and in effect put yourself into the Butterfly's cockpit...

The Butterfly Drone (insect drone) is an amazing creation and makes you wonder how small these drones may become...maybe one day they might be small enough to sit on the end of your finger...