A digital art series that re-imagines various creatures as espionage-facilitating robots.
The history of drones took an especially weird turn in the 1970s when the CIA began fiddling around with a prototype for an eavesdropping robot called the insectothopter.
The insectothopter was one of their most secret projects during the Cold War. It was so secret that it wasn't even revealed until many years later. It was designed to look like a dragonfly and be used for surveillance purposes. The idea was to create a small device that could fly into enemy territory undetected and gather information without being noticed. The insectothopter was controlled remotely and was able to fly for short distances, but it was difficult to control and didn't always work as planned.
Despite these challenges, the insectothopter was a fascinating invention that inspired many other researchers to work on developing small flying robots for a variety of purposes.
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Over the years, many other insects and animals have been developed for spying purposes. One example is the "robofish," a remote-controlled robotic fish developed by the US Navy for underwater surveillance. The robofish looks and moves like a real fish, and it is able to collect information on underwater environments without being detected. Today, intelligence agencies use similar devices that are fully controllable and can carry out surveillance. And they’re even smaller.
The Spy Creatures series explores the very possible idea of advanced robotics through the process of prompt crafting in Midjourney with Photoshop for additional editing.
Imagine autonomous solar-powered bot creatures as small as a mosquito with GPS-enabled navigation systems and cameras for eyes that can go undetected and possibly armed in “Black Mirror” style for extreme espionage circumstances. Take a closer look at your garden, maybe they already exist.
Marcus is originally from Ireland and now resides in Australia. A designer, Photoshop pro, and AI prompt engineer, he brings brands to life through identity design and visual storytelling.
