Harvard’s tiny “RoboBee” flying robot is shown in flight in a new video released by the school, flapping its translucent wings 120 times per second, emitting a creepy persistent buzz.

The RoboBee, which is around the size of a quarter, is part of an increasingly fruitful focus on miniature killer drones inspired by insect biology. It is also part of the trend towards miniaturizing the drone war with the half-ounce surveillance drone used in Afghanistan, tiny bombs for small drones and kamikaze drones.

However, there are many animal-inspired drones that aren’t nearly as compact including an autonomous jellyfish drone, a silent drone inspired by owls, an incredibly fast robot inspired by a cheetah, a bird-like drone already seen in the wild and a push towards more lifelike and efficient humanoid robots.

This particular robot has been developed by Harvard researchers for a decade and while it actually flew last summer in a laboratory, the video (below) of the RoboBee in flight was only released by Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences today.

The development of the RoboBee – which is actually inspired by a fly’s biology, according to Danger Room – has taken so long because it can’t rely on conventional electromagnetic motors.

Instead, the scientists had to use piezoelectric actuators, tiny strips of ceramic that expand and contract when an electric field is applied, in order to get the wings to flap.

The same technique has been used on earlier versions of the robot, allowing each wing to be operated separately which enables complex maneuvers.

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