In the heavyweight, no-holds-barred, Ultimate Fighting Championship brawl to birth the forerunners of the Evil Robot, you've got to get up pretty early in the morning to beat our friends at DARPA. It could be said that the Evil Robot's most bosom companions are these dark clergy of research and development.

"MONROVIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) (NASDAQ:AVAV) was awarded a Phase II contract extension in April from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to design and build a flying prototype for the Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) program. As part of this program AV has accomplished a technical milestone never before achieved: the controlled hovering flight of an air vehicle system with two flapping wings that carries its own energy source and uses only the flapping wings for propulsion and control.

AV achieved the milestone in December 2008 with the successful 20-second flight of the 'Mercury' interim test vehicle. The nano aircraft is capable of climbing and descending vertically, flying sideways left and right, as well as forward and backward, under remote control.

“The NAV program will push the limits of aerodynamic and power conversion efficiency, endurance, and maneuverability for very small, flapping wing air vehicle systems,” said Dr. Todd Hylton, DARPA program manager. “The goals of the NAV program -- namely to develop an approximately 10 gram aircraft that can hover for extended periods, can fly at forward speeds up to 10 meters per second, can withstand 2.5 meter per second wind gusts, can operate inside buildings, and have up to a kilometer command and control range -- will stretch our understanding of flight at these small sizes and require novel technology development.”

Itty Bitty Surveilance Comittee

Full Story at Business Wire