Futuristic hovering drone closer to prime-time

Sci-fi today, mainstream tomorrow? A Japanese engineer says he has developed an improved prototype of a beach ball-sized observation drone that can hover in the air or tumble on the ground while it transmits live images from a video camera.

"This is the world's first spherical air vehicle," said its developer, Fumiyuki Sato, a research engineer at the Defence Ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute in Tokyo told AFP. Just how the futuristic invention will wind up getting used is still anyone's guess, but for earthquake-ravaged Japan, the device holds particular potential as a tool for emergency rescue teams conducting search and rescue operations.