News Highlight
- Cyborg cockroaches: Researchers claim these insects will be able to conduct surveillance in procedures like urban search and rescue.
Cyborg cockroaches
- An international team of researchers led by Japan’s scientific institution, RIKEN’s Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR), has devised a system that can create cyborg cockroaches, that is part insect and part machine.
- They claim that these insects, whose movements are controlled by tiny integrated circuits, will be able to conduct surveillance in procedures like urban search and rescue, environmental monitoring and inspection of areas dangerous to humans.
- By equipping the cockroaches with small wireless control modules, handlers will be able to control the insect’s legs remotely for long periods of time.
- The team used Madagascar cockroaches, which are not only the largest species of cockroaches, reaching an estimated 6 cm, but are also known for making hissing sounds when disturbed, which they make by expelling air from the openings on their back.
- The researchers also designed the system to be rechargeable, by powering it with a super thin 0.004 mm solar cell module that is installed on the dorsal side of the cockroach’s abdomen.
- This was done to ensure that the battery remains charged and the cockroach can be controlled for long periods of time, while simultaneously ensuring that the movement remains unhindered.