Making insects and rodents your robotic slaves seems a good idea especially for missions that deep probing into areas where drones or other robotic machinery cannot go. For example in the event of an earthquake it is impossible to send huge sized robotic probes down the rubble. So how about loading the back of a cockroach with microchips that control their movement making them cyborg cockroaches on a mission to save human lives? That is exactly what researchers from the University of North Carolina have their eyes on as they have made the first functioning cyborg cockroach controlling system which allows them to dictate the movement of the insect at will.
Called as biobots the robo-roaches are zombified to move in a particular pattern owing to their sense of movement through touch that is actuated by their antennae. The preparation for turning an unassuming cockroach into a cyborg cockroach starts with putting it to sleep by lowering the body temperature to around 4 degree Celsius and then removing the ends of the antenna with wires connected to small circuit board and cerci (sensory organs) attached to the back of the roach. After that the cockroach recovers from the cybernetic implant and then it’s time to test the roach for success of the experiment. On a marked curving blue line which is the target path of the roach the movement is controlled by sending mild electric signal to left or right antenna.
Weight of the circuit board on back of the cockroach is 4g which is well under the maximum limit of 5g that can be carried without hampering the smooth movement but researchers are also developing a backpack that will weigh only 0.5g thereby giving complete freedom to the roach for completing important missions so to speak.
Via: RocketNews24/OhGizmo
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