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The robotic bee, or "robobee" has an electronic nervous system that tells it to flap its wings, an exoskeleton inspired by a children's pop-up book and a computer-chip brain.
Researchers at Harvard University are designing these tiny robots, which could be used to search for victims in rubble after a disaster, they say. What bees in nature achieve without any effort requires incredibly complex architecture and engineering, it turns out. For example, finding a fuel source light enough to allow the bees to fly. More in the video above.
Miles O'Brien reports for the National Science Foundation's* Science Nation.
For the record, the National Science Foundation is an underwriter of the NewsHour.
