EETimes.com – Darpa hatches plan for insect cyborgs to fly reconnaissance — Now this is getting good. A new way to seprate the taxpayers from their money. The idea here is to implant MEMS into actual insects to control them for military use. Cripes. Right out of a sci-fi novel.

Cyborg insects with embedded microelectromechanical systems MEMS will run remotely controlled reconnaissance missions for the military, if its “HI-MEMS” program succeeds. Hybrid-Insect MEMS–a program hatched earlier this year at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Darpa–aims to harness insects the way horses were harnessed by the cavalry.

“We have used horses for locomotion in wars,” according to Darpas description by its program manager, Amit Lal. “The HI-MEMS program is aimed to develop technology that provides more control over insect locomotion, just as saddles on horseshoes are needed for horse-locomotion control.”

Darpa cites that, historically, elephants have also been used for locomotion in wars, that pigeons have been used for sending covert messages, that canaries have been used to detect gases in coal mines, and that bees have been used to locate lands mines. Now its the moths and beetles turn to report for duty, just as dogs have already done.