The University of Michigan College of Engineering has been awarded a five-year Army contract to develop a six-inch robotic spy plane modeled after a bat that would gather data from sights, sounds and smells in urban combat zones and transmit information back to a soldier in real time.

The micro-aerial vehicle dubbed "the bat," would have tiny cameras for stereo vision, an array of mini microphones that could home in on sounds from different directions, and small detectors for nuclear radiation and poisonous gases.

Low-power miniaturized radar and a very sensitive navigation system would help the bat find its way at night. Energy scavenging from solar, wind, vibration and other sources would recharge the bat's lithium battery. The aircraft would use radio to send signals back to troops.