It's called biomimicry, and it's the concept of developing artificial -- that is, man-made -- things that use nature's fundamentals as the basis for how they function.
The company: Monrovia, Calif.-based AeroVironment.
The product: the "Nano Hummingbird."
The client: the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.
AeroVironment announced on Wednesday that it is developing this "nano air vehicle" with help from a DARPA-sponsored research contract with hopes to develop a new class of aircraft for reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities in urban environments, indoors or outdoors.
The Nano Hummingbird:
The company specializes in UAVs such as this one, also named for members of the Animal Kingdom: Wasp, Raven and Puma.
Here's a video of it in action:
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com