U-M gets $10-million grant to help develop bat-like spy plane

Device will be used to transmit combat zone data to soldiers

Detroit Free Press

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/NEWS05/80314025

Andrea K. Farmer • Free Press Staff Writer

March 14, 2008

The United States Army recently awarded a five-year, $10-million grant to the
College of Engineering at University of Michigan to aid in developing a six-inch
robotic spy plane for use in combat zones. The plane, which will be modeled
after a bat, is designed to collect information and instantaneously transmit
collected data to soldiers.

The initial grant will help fund the research of the U-M Center for Objective
Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology (COM-BAT). The project is
slated to be a two-phase endeavor, with an option for a second five-year grant
for use during the second phase. The first phase of the project is scheduled to
begin March 26.

Comprised of 12 faculty members and 18 graduate students from U-M, COM-BAT will
work in conjunction with the Army Research Laboratory and members from the
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY and the University of New Mexico. U-M
researchers will focus on the microelectronics phase of the project, developing
communication tools, batteries and sensors....