My research on robotic spiders developed for the military has led me to the following article below which can be used for spying & surveillance. Originally developed for military usage, these robotic spiders have been domesticated & transformed for civilian usage for much more sinister purposes such as spying on family & friends.
Robot Spiders, Dragonflies, Snakes to Aid Soldiers in War Zones
The purpose is to "extend the warfighter's senses and reach, providing operational capabilities that would otherwise be costly, impossible, or deadly to achieve," says Joseph Mait, MAST cooperative agreement manager for the Army Research Laboratory.
Other remote controlled devices are in the works as well, such as the unmanned drones that are currently used for bombing raids and reconnaissance. The hope is that using these robots will cut down on the number of casualties suffered by U.S. forces, and possibly civilians, while improving the accuracy of missile attacks and raids. However the potential for misuse of these robots, such as spying on citizens or other governments, is straight out of some sci-fi movie.
In any case we hope we never see one of these little creatures on our windowsill. [Source: Daily Mail UK]
