History Main / SurveillanceDrone

* In ''[[Literature/TheMerchantPrincesSeries Empire Games]]'', the United States of Timeline-2 sends drones to investigate other worlds. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. They're very concerned when their counterparts in one timeline, which seems to have a kind-of-20th-century level of technology, reacts in a way which suggests ''they know what it is''.

* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' had an augmentation that allowed you to deploy one of these to scout (and it could let off an {{EMP}} pulse to sabotage electronic devices). It was considered excessively expensive for its utility.

** It spawned an entire family of small helicopter drones (factory- or enthusiast-built) driven by an iPhone or {{Android}} device.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rage}}'' has Authority Drones, which are designed to scout ahead and look for Ark survivors. Their usefulness is debatable, as despite having several in the players face over the course of the game the Authority never seem to collect a picture of you.

* In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', Musse's [[LifeForce Nen]] ability, Secret Window, functions like this. It takes the form of three small [[OminousOwl owl-like]] psychic constructs that follow a target and allows Musse to see and hear everything that the owls can see. One of them requires physical contact with the target but cannot be seen or interacted with by anyone but Musse, though the other two owls' traits are unknown. [[spoiler:Secret Window continues to function even after Musse's death too, which has a purpose]] [[spoiler:as his boss, Benjamin, inherits the owls and can see and hear through them.]]

* The Tic-Tocs (robot birds) from ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', apparently, though who exactly they're working for is a mystery to the Court and the Forest both.

A small (usually basketball sized or smaller) robot whose only purpose in life is to record or transmit an A/V feed. Usually hovers, but other variations exist.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': Asakura's artifact, the Oculus Corvinus/Raven's Eyes. Six small, flying robots used for spying and information-gathering. Perfect for the SchoolNewspaperNewshound. One chapter came up with a more complicated use for them, involving using a ghost to transmit information from one camera to another, so other people can watch the action without being detected.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''; The servo skulls for the Inquisition, and the Tau drones.

*** Some Eyebots in Fallout 3 can call in reinforcements after a certain stage in the game and a random encounter shows two wastelanders discussing whether or not its spying on them whilst it hovers inbetween the pair.

** ''[[Videogame/{{X}} X3: Reunion]]'' features the tiny Camera Drone (about twice the size of a space suit) which is used in several missions but is otherwise unavailable for use. The Motion Analysis Relay System [[GameMod script package]] in ''X3: Terran Conflict'' and ''Albion Prelude'' in allows the [[AttackDrone fighter drone]] to coordinate as "Goblins", which can function as a surveillance net, by towing surveillance satellites around the controlling ship, or remotely deploy satellites far away for exploration or [[TargetSpotter target spotting]] for the [[MacrossMissileMassacre missile frigates]]
** ''Videogame/XRebirth'' has the Beholder ROV, a tiny drone that can be deployed from the ''Albion Skunk''. It's used to scan ships and stations for potential deals, but most players use them for [[SceneryPorn exploring the detailed stations]].

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': The UNSC has a variety of small autonomous surveillance drones. The beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' even shows camera drones present at a military award ceremony. The Covenant also have their own version, known as "Eyes".
* Videogame/{{Rage}} has Authority Drones, which are designed to scout ahead and look for Ark survivors. Their usefulness is debatable, as despite having several in the players face over the course of the game the Authority never seem to collect a picture of you.
* Videogame/ProjectEden has two kinds of deployable drone, a hovering ball with a limited battery life and a tracked rover with a small energy weapon. Both can press buttons.

* ''[[Videogame/{{Worms}} Worms WMD]]'' features the Mischievous Drone, which flies for several seconds after it's launched in order to scout inside buildings and collect crates for you. An upgraded version that additionally creates a magnetic field can be crafted.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'' The Devil has [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2011-09-30 these]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'': Eyebot robots, have a defence laser but are usually friendly to the player character.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The press uses them in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAm'' featured such "spy orbs" utilized by Robotnik to monitor his city.

See also PatrollingMook. Contrast with AnimalEyeSpy. Might be deployed by the, well, DroneDeployer.

* ''Series/{{Batman}}'' featured a variant on this trope:: a remotely-controlled model plane that tracked radio signals to their origin, which would have seemed a ''very'' high-tech concept in 1966.

* The VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog series has Gun Beetles. While most of them have some type of weapon, the Mono Beetles do not, and thus function as this.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'': Observers

* The USA has this option in two flavors in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals''. One is bound to a vehicle and increases sight range while detecting invisible enemies, the other is a General power that makes one circle over a certain area indefinitely, like an infinite Spy Satellite power. The latter is cloaked, the former isn't, and both can be shot down by anything that can target air units (the vehicle-bound kind also dies out if the parent vehicle is destroyed.

* The non-syndicated ''SonicTheHedgehog'' cartoon, affectionately known as [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/SonicTheHedgehog?from=Main.SatAM SatAM]] - featured such "spy orbs" utilized by Robotnik to monitor his city.

* The Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog series has Gun Beetles. While most of them have some type of weapon, the Mono Beetles do not, and thus function as this.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': Asakura's artifact, the Oculus Corvinus/Raven's Eyes. Six small, flying robots used for spying and information-gathering. Perfect for the SchoolNewspaperNewshound. A recent chapter comes up with a more complicated use for them, which involves using a ghost to transmit information from one camera to another, so other people can watch the action without being detected.

* The ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' villain "Jaeger" uses surveillance drones to track his targets and film his kills. He sells the ensuing snuff films on the black market.

->''What they came up with was a number of ideas of varying quality and uniform record of failure. There was the miniature flying robot fiasco where smaller and smaller robots were sent and blasted out of existence, right down to the smallest, about the size of a small coin. Obsessed by miniaturization, they constructed a flying-eye appara­tus no larger than the head of a pin that dragged a threadlike control wire after it that also supplied current for the infinitesimal ion drive. This sparked and sizzled its way to within fifteen kilometers of the ''Indestructible'' before the all-seeing sensors detected it and neatly blasted it out of existence with a single shot.''
-->-- ''The Mothballed Spaceship'' by Creator/HarryHarrison

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'': Scanners. They hover right in your face and take a snapshot of you, which creates [[InterfaceScrew a blinding flash]]. Destroying them may net you a battery, which charges up your suit a little bit. A different kind later on also gives your position away to Striders with each photo.