The tiny cyborg dragonfly drones have taken flight

The tiniest drones we've ever seen have lift off. 

Draper Labs, an independent biomedical solutions lab, first unveiled its DragonflEye concept back in January. 

The project aimed to create the smallest drone possible by doing more than just taking inspiration from the animal kingdom — Draper's engineers literally outfitted an actual dragonfly with drone tech, putting a suite of next-gen navigation, synthetic biology, and neurotechnology systems on its back in the form of mini "backpack," which is powered by a built-in solar cell.

When the project was first announced earlier this year, there was no actual footage or even images of the drones  — just a to-scale model of a dragonfly toting the backpack. That was six months ago — and now, the Draper team has made some impressive new progress.  Read more...