I'm surprised there haven't been kickstarters for little robotic bug killers yet. The processors and sensors are getting powerful enough, and within the right power band, that the premise of having a stabby little anti-bug device (a small roomba that kills) is within reach.
Of course, then we'll make them larger. And larger. And eventually it will spell our doom.
>Of course, then we'll make them larger. And larger. And eventually it will spell our doom. //
I thought that we'd make them smaller and smaller ... and that will spell our doom.
Perhaps the bug killing squads of nanobots mutate - either by a human introduced [computer] virus or for a more ironic twist from a source that would normally be a DNA mutator (cosmic ray radiation say). The bugs will then hunt out not pathogens but something useful like human nerve cells or white blood cells. Caught in an international crisis - war or famine, you choose - humanity will have it's eyes off the ball until too late.
There must be Sci-Fi of this.
Aside: is there a rule akin to Rule 34, perhaps Rule 0100011, that says no matter how outlandish a distopian future scenario is that it is nonetheless already a feature in the plot of a Sci-Fi work?
Of course, then we'll make them larger. And larger. And eventually it will spell our doom.