Researchers have created a surveillant robot in the form of a fly. The 60 milligrams weight robotic fly, with the size of a real fly, made its first flight at Harvard University. The movement was also even adjusted to the movement of a real fly.

According to the researchers, a robot so tiny can be applied as a spy or a device that detects dangerous chemical. The small size and the fly-like shape will bring advantage to a party that is involved in a war, or for surveillance in urban areas. That’s why The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency fund a project lead by Robert Woods, a professor at Harvard school of engineering and applied sciences. Wood threw a light joke that people would notice a hawk more than they would notice a fly.

The issue is, most motors, bearings, and joints are made for bigger sized robots, not for a fly-sized one. This robotic fly cannot be conventionally manufactured, since to produce strong and light parts of a robot is not a simple process. “Simply scaling down existing macro-scale techniques will not come close to the performance that we need,” Wood says.