h a l f b a k e r yRecalculations place it at 0.4999.
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The smallest flying insects are less than a millimetre in
length, the largest living ones maybe have a wingspan of a
couple of dozen centimetres. All of them have small brains,
some of them presumably really, really small. Take these
brains and analyse them, work out which bits vary due to
the
size of the insect and other aspects of its behaviour, then
design an electronic brain which does the same, but with an
artificial insect whose wingspan is many metres. Copy the
anatomy to a considerable degree, varying the bits which control flight appropriately for size, so that you have what is
effectively a passenger butterfly which flies around the world
in search of nectar at airports designed like flowers to re-
fuel, and helps grow new airports by pollinating them.
Robot dragonflies
Sunflower_20canopy_20range_20extender
[hippo, Sep 05 2011]
Mead Organ
http://local.yahoo....an-service-richmond
Not only do they exist - Mike services them. [MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 05 2011]
LEXX
http://en.wikipedia...i/The_Lexx#The_Lexx
[DrBob, Sep 06 2011]
Molecular motor
http://www.dailymai...INGLE-molecule.html
[rcarty, Sep 06 2011]
[link]
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//helps grow new airports by pollinating them// |
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+ only if it looked like a giant butterfly, too! |
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Oh yes, it would most definitely look like a giant butterfly, [xandram], no worries there. |
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I think the issue wouldn't be the control of the "insect" but the construction of such a thing. I don't know that we can use building materials that would allow artificial insects to fly at such large scales. I mean how would you power the huge wings? |
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Hmmm, I would imagine at some point one butterfly will be feeling amorous toward it's neighbor butterfly and doing a little impromptu pollinating of its own. [+] |
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You know how if you touch butterfly wings, ever so
lightly, the poor thing takes a nose dive. Is this
vehicle safe I ponder? |
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Cans of flyspray the size of skyscrapers? |
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[+], but I'm pretty sure that butterfly bodies move
up and down a lot as they fly, so you'll have a lot of
sick passengers. |
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You could use the offspring as trains. |
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Moths would be Militia Style. |
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I thought Airbus were already doing this? Are you planning on laying lots of "eggs" because not all A330, errr, butterflies, are required to fly to keep the airline, errr, species alive... |
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My thought is that in all things, actually hold on, i've
had a vision! |
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That's your computer monitor. |
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//The smallest flying insects are less than a millimetre in length, the largest living ones// |
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Do we share a similar notion that the smallest ones arn't really living? |
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Really enjoyed this style of idea by the way. |
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Not viable if they are totally based on existing
biology. Clearly this would not be the case here
because real butterflies have no passenger seats or
cabin doors. Nevertheless, i'm open to the idea that
spiracles and pipes carrying air could be a useful way
of making fuel combustion more efficient. Lots of
little engines like mitochondria. |
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Giant butterflies are impossible in principle (scaling
laws). Micro-miniature passengers, on the other
hand, is merely difficult. |
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Largest fossilized insects had wingspans of a few feet... |
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//Largest fossilized insects had wingspans of a few feet...// |
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And thus the real reason the dinosaurs died out. Sheer annoyance by giant houseflies. |
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There are things which could be scaled up. I think the Carboniferous "dragonflies" were flying through an atmosphere much higher in oxygen than today, hence the size - they were able to rely more on the diffusion of respiratory gases and therefore the spiracles could be further apart. Ignoring the need to respire, because to an extent it can be provided there is just a sort of frame which can flap its wings, i think the upper size limit would be a lot higher, particularly if different materials were used. Flying insects and birds overlap in size considerably but solve the same problem in different ways. I believe this is viable. |
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// Micro-miniature passengers, on the other hand, is merely difficult. // |
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Even now, researchers at Ryan Air are working hard on that particular problem ... |
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Was just reading about really small electric motors [link]. |
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