eriments 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
http://www.livescience.com/23016-remote-controlled-cyborg-roaches.html
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