While remote sensors are becoming de rigeur for battlefield operatives, only the smallest robots are light enough to be lugged around on a pack, and even those take precious time to be set up and deployed. Enter the Eyeball, a spherical sensor pod with a 360-degree camera and microphones than can be tossed into unscouted areas like a rubber ball, reconnoitering up to a 25-meter radius. Currently under development by Israeli firm O.D.F Optronics, the Eyeball’s special omni-directional lens sends back a distorted image to a computer which then processes the image into useable pictures. No word on when razor blades and levitation will be added to the sensor pod, but what military technology couldn’t be better with a few blades? Canteens, maybe.
