A Russian neurotechnology company called Neeri is working on converting pigeons into drones. The company says it is testing the flight characteristics of these “biodrone pigeons” using live birds with chips implanted in their brains. According to the machine-translated Neeri blog post, the Neurochip lets an operator “control the bird by loading it with flight tasks, similar to a traditional UAV.

” Neri claims that the main difference between a biodrone and a trained animal is that training is not required. The company says that after surgery any bird can be controlled remotely. Researchers say that by stimulating specific areas of the brain they can cause the bird to move in a desired direction.