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NASA mini-bots march on Mars
Welcome to the future...

By Pia Heikkila

Published: Tuesday 22 January 2002

NASA's boffins have unleashed an army of miniature robots whose mission will be to collect data on Mars.

The project involves insect-sized flying robots, called micro air vehicles, which NASA claims are ideal for planetary exploration because of their ability to hover rather than just fly. The bugs are designed to operate in hostile environments.

The project is part of NASA's "Planetary Exploration Using Biometrics" project, in which the Georgia Tech Institute and the UK's own Cambridge University are both involved.