In the annual International Conference of
the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology
Society in San Diego, Calif held last month,
researchers reported the results of their
experiments to create a remote-controlled
cyborg cockroaches, hoping one day the
resilient creatures could be steered into
disaster zones to gather information and
look for survivors.
They attached a lightweight chip with a
wireless receiver and transmitter onto
Madagascar hissing cockroaches and wired a
microcontroller to the insect's antennae and
cerci (the sensory organs on the bug's
abdomen) that cause it to run away from
danger.The electric signals stimulated the
cerci which creates a perception of presence
of a predator and makes the cockroach run
away from it. A signal sent to one antenna
could make a cockroach think its feeler was
touching a wall forcing to move the opposite
way and thereby controlling its direction.
NC State researcher Alper Bozkurt said that -
"Building small-scale robots that can
perform in such uncertain, dynamic
conditions is enormously difficult. We
decided to use biobotic cockroaches in place
of robots, as designing robots at that scale
is very challenging, and cockroaches are
experts at performing in such a hostile
environment. Ultimately, we think this will
allow us to create a mobile web of smart
sensors that uses cockroaches to collect and
transmit information, such as finding
survivors in a building that's been destroyed
by an earthquake."
A video footage of the experiments
conducted at North Carolina State University
on a part-robot roaches that is being
directed along a curving path via remote
control can be seen from this link : http://
bit.ly/RfxmbF
