They’re even smaller than an ant.
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00:00These might not look like much, and that's actually kind of the point.
00:07That's because they're the smallest man-made flying machines ever built.
00:11The Micro Flyers, as they're being called, don't have an engine, but rather they're
00:14built like the seat of a maple tree, floating downward on the wind using the Micro Flyers
00:18propeller-shaped body.
00:20The goal was to develop a device that could fall extremely slowly, in a controlled fashion,
00:24spending as much time hanging in the air as possible, without the need for an engine or
00:27fuel source.
00:28So the team looked at tree seeds, which have had millions of years of evolution to hone
00:32their particular set of skills.
00:34According to the Northwestern University engineers, the tiny flyers could be used to monitor air
00:38pollution and other air quality control levels.
00:41With the device's lead developer, bioelectronics pioneer Professor John Rogers, saying they
00:45could allow us to quote, distribute highly functional, miniaturized electronic devices
00:49to sense the environment for contamination monitoring, population surveillance, or disease
00:54tracking.
00:55And the best part?
00:56The Micro Flyers can dissolve in water, meaning no one has to track down the tiny devices
01:00after their job is done.