Darpa is holding a contest to design the military's next spy mini-drone. So far, the entrants include a flying pogo stick, a sail that lands on mosques, and an unmanned laser shooter.

Those are some of concept videos submitted to UAV Forge, a Pentagon experiment to crowdsource the development of unmanned aerial vehicles. DIY-drone hobbyists are encouraged to work together to create the flying spy-bot of the future. It has to fit in a rucksack and be operated by just one person without any help, guidelines say.

This isn’t the first time that the Pentagon's done crowdsourcing exercises. There was the "Network Challenge," which sent people scrambling around the country for 10 big red balloons in an attempt to "explore the roles the internet and social networking play [in] timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization." And Darpa also announced this year that it would give $10,000 for the best design for new "Combat Reconnaissance and Combat Delivery & Evacuation" vehicles.

Everyone taking part in the UAV contest have to post videos of their designs, so other hardware tinkerers can vote on and critique their ideas. After that, they'll have to demonstrate that their design can actually fly. From a live video demo, 10 teams will be picked — and given up to $15,000 each — to take part in a "fly-off." The winning team gets $100,000 of prize money, a subcontract with a manufacturer, and the chance to see to their project in use in a military operational demo. UAV Forge has been talking to Google, which is considering using UAVs to capture Google Earth images, according to PC Magazine.

Here are the ideas you get when you tap into the wisdom of the DIY-drone hackers.

The XL-161 Trinity (above) is a solar- and fuel-powered unmanned airborne laser system that can "destroy any aircraft or ballistic missile within a wide range." It stores solar energy in batteries for nighttime use. A laser turret, which contains an infrared camera and rangefinder, has "all-angle turning capability" to target shots in any direction below the aircraft.

The Falcon is a camo-printed, modular three-part drone that's decked out with a super-camera that moves "like the head of a bird of prey.” With thrust vector control, it's able to carry out a vertical takeoff, and then switch to horizontal flight. It purports to have a battery that's part of its lifting surface — as opposed to dead weight. In this video, it makes a landing on a mosque to Metallica's "Enter Sandman."

The Quadrocopter Microdrone is a kamikaze drone equipped with miniguns, an infrared laser beam, and Xbox Kinect-style cameras to map out the landscape. It will self-destruct if compromised. It aspires to be able to get close enough to a terrorist to spray a substance and then be able to track the sprayed target with a special camera. There's an app for it. It's controlled by a remote control that can be hooked up to an iPad.

The Pogo 2100 UAV is a flying pogo stick that can be configured with explosives and sensors. It is launched over long ranges by a rocket, and released in a capsule. Then it drifts around like a spying seed, hovering with the help of blade-like propellers.

And for kicks, someone seems to have submitted a preview for the videogame "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier." Of course.

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