On Wednesday July 23, a development team at the TU Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands introduced the minute DelFly Micro air vehicle, a variant of an Unmanned Aerial vehicle (UAV). This successor to the DelFly I and II weighs barely 3 grams, and with its flapping wings is very similar to a dragonfly. The DelFly II drew huge attention in 2006 because it could fly horizontally (21 km/hr) as well as hover, just like a hummingbird, and could also fly backwards. The DelFly Micro, incidentally, cannot do this just yet.

Ultra-small, remote-controlled micro-aircraft with cameras, such as this DelFly, may well be used in the future for observation flights in difficult-to-reach or dangerous areas. The DelFly Micro is a 'Micro Air Vehicle' (MAV), an exceptionally small remote-controlled aircraft, with camera and image recognition software. The Micro, measuring 10 cm (wingtip-to-wingtip), is the considerably smaller successor to the successful DelFly I (2005) and DelFly II (2006). The DelFly Micro, with its minuscule battery weighing just 1 gram, can fly for approximately three minutes and has a maximum speed of 5 meters per second.

Ultra-small remote-controlled, camera-equipped aircraft are potentially of great interest because they could eventually be used for observation flights in difficult-to-reach or dangerous areas. The basic principle of the DelFly is derived from nature. The 'dragonfly' has a tiny camera (about 0.5 gram) on board that transmits its signals to a ground station. With software developed by TU Delft, objects can then be recognized independently. The camera transmits TV quality images, and therefore allows the DelFly II to be operated from a computer. It can be maneuvered using a joystick as if the operator was actually in the cockpit of the aircraft. The aim is to be able to do this with the DelFly Micro, also.

In a few years time, the new objective of the project, the DelFly NaNo (5 cm, 1 gram) will have been developed. The Micro is an important intermediate step in this development process. A second objective for the future is for the DelFly to be able to fly entirely independently, thanks to image-recognition software.

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