<p>Harvard University researchers have for the first time replicated in a tiny, bug-like robot the agility of the common fly. With a gossamer body of microscale electronics, the penny-sized robot can lift off, hover, and maneuver albeit only while tethered to a leash that supplies power and provides information about its location in mid-air.</p><p>"It's the goal of creating the most agile manmade thing that's ever existed," said Rob Wood, an engineering professor at Harvard and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.</p><p>The progress reported Thursday in the journal Science is the culmination of more than a decade of work, and is an important step toward building a colony of RoboBees that can fly by themselves and coordinate their collective movements to achieve tasks.</p><p>It is still unclear what the best application would be for a fleet of airborne bug-sized robots, but the technology could have a wide range of uses, from surveillance to pollinating crops.</p><p><a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/06/robot-modeled-after-fly-big-step-for-harvard-researchers/iPn1RquUOHh7l8DavVcs3H/story.html">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-video/10035466/Robotic-insect-worlds-smallest-flying-robot-makes-first-flight.html">Robotic insect: world&#039;s smallest flying robot makes first flight</a> (Telegraph.co.uk)</p><p><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0502/Flight-of-the-RoboBee-Tiny-hovering-robot-creates-buzz">Flight of the RoboBee: Tiny hovering robot creates buzz</a> (Christian Science Monitor)</p><p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-flying-robot-robobee-smallest-ever-20130502,0,5469981.story">Meet RoboBee, a bug-sized, bio-inspired flying robot</a> (Los Angeles Times)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dBLkgDaFx_3l6PMNGktjGwTiyH-VM&ned=us">127 additional articles.</a></p>