A cockroach fitted with a 鈥渂ackpack鈥� computer and infrared camera, controlled by electrodes, could help locate warm bodies in the rubble of buildings destroyed by earthquakes.
at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and his colleagues fitted Madagascar hissing cockroaches with tiny computers connected to electrodes implanted in sensory organs known as cerci on the left and right side of each insect. When a current is applied to the organ, the insect rotates in that direction, and it stops when the current is removed.
Although the cockroach can be steered, it can control its own legs. The cyborg insects had a success rate of 94 per cent when directed to waypoints in a simulated disaster scene in a lab. Using the infrared camera, the team could discern humans from non-human objects with 87 per cent average accuracy.
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The team says the apparatus could operate for 2.2 hours using a battery light enough to be carried by the insect. Because the cockroach powers the motion, the range is significantly higher than a robotic device would have.
The researchers believe hybrid computer-insect robots could be ideal for search-and-rescue missions in the wake of disasters like earthquakes, where swift discovery of survivors is essential but locations may be inaccessible. They hope to add real-time position tracking in the future so that human rescuers can be alerted when the cyborg finds a survivor.
鈥淎ny tool that can be used to take human rescuers out of harm鈥檚 way or to speed up the search process would be highly beneficial,鈥� says at UK search-and-rescue charity SARAID.
鈥淲hilst the idea is unconventional, it would not be out of the question to use cockroaches. They would most likely not be used in isolation, but certainly could provide an extra option in the rescuer鈥檚 toolkit.鈥�
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