7. Flying nano technology - nano quadrotors

These small flying machines, no bigger than the size of your hand, work as individuals as well as in a team performing a range of acts (retrieved July 14, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsI1lb0a1qY).  The main business drivers for these machines are solely research driven, originating from UPenn's General Robotics, Automation, Sensing, and Perception (GRASP) lab.  Robots have the ability to flip in mid-air, perform figure 8 rotations, plus other team formations, and the ability to navigate in environments with obstacles as an individual and as part of a team.  The purpose and function of their existence, other than mere fun and amusement is variable, however its main business driver is geared toward security, military and search and rescue organisations will greatly benefit with these machines.  Their abilities and range is limitless from surveillance, to carrying weaponry, to search and rescue and so forth. Lead researchers claim that: 

"Scenarios that use the flying devices are imagined in military and natural disaster settings. “Can large numbers of autonomously functioning vehicles be reliably deployed in the form of a ‘swarm’ to carry out a prescribed mission and to respond as a group to high-level management commands? Can such a group successfully function in a potentially hostile environment, without a designated leader, with limited communications between its members, and/or with different and potentially dynamically changing “roles” for its members?” These are the questions posed by the Lab. According to the SWARM project site, “Military missions will rely on large, networked groups of small vehicles and sensors operating in dynamic, resource-constrained, adversarial environments. Groups of this type will typically operate with little or no direct human supervision and will be very difficult, if not impossible, to efficiently manage or control by programming or by tele-operation. Management of such large groups will thus be extremely challenging and will require the application of new, yet-to-be-developed methods of communication, control, computation and sensing, specifically tailored to the command and control of large-scale, autonomously functioning vehicle groups”  http://phys.org/news/2012-02-airborne-robot-swarms-complex-video.html#jCp (retrieved October 5, 2012). 

Their impact on the marketplace is not only life saving, and a means of damage prevention, they are also beneficial to the construction and engineering industries. Their benefits extend further as airborne robots have been used for building construction work, "constructing a six meter high tower without any human intervention. Architects say this new technology paves the way for new methods of engineering buildings of the future. Georgina Cooper reports" (retrieved October 5, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvN9Ri1GmuY&feature=related).