 |
|
Engineers wire miniature computer into live
cockroaches for remote control (Photo: Bill Weir/CNN)
|
Engineers at a Texas university have
developed a system to remote control cockroaches via a miniature computer,
which is wired to the nervous system. It’s hoped they could be used for search
and rescue missions as they can move about in tiny spaces.
A team of researchers at Texas
A&M University has created ‘backpacks’ weighing less than 3 grams for the
insects. These hold the necessary equipment for humans to control the
cockroaches, which include a tiny computer chip. This controls the nerves,
which are used to help the cockroach walk, says the report published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
RT.com reports:
The insect could carry tiny video
cameras and microphones that could be of great value in collecting information
in hard-to-reach places – be that building debris or damaged infrastructure.
The technology does not ‘tell’ the
insect it must turn right or left. Cockroaches have six legs – three on each
side. When the insect walks, the three legs on each side move in synch with one
another. Therefore, by directing a pulse towards the middle leg, this meant it
fell out of time with the others. So, if the team decides to send a pulse to
the middle left leg, then the insect would turn left – a pulse to the right leg
would mean the roach would go right.
 |
|
Reuters/Sukree Sukplang
|
The research still has some way to
go, with the cockroaches responding to the commands the team made about 70
percent of the time. One of the researchers believes they could have a valuable
future, if the technology is perfected.
“Insects can do things a robot
cannot. They can go into small places, sense the environment, and if there’s
movement, from a predator say, they can escape much better than a system
designed by a human,” Hong Liang, who led the research, told the Guardian. “We wanted to find ways to work with them.”
Even though cockroaches are capable
of carrying five times their own body weight, the insects still get tired.
According to Liang, this will hamper the amount of equipment they would be able
to carry, which would be vital in search and rescue operations.
“We put them on a treadmill for a minute and
then let them rest. If the backpack is lighter, they can go on for longer,”
Liang added.The research team from Texas A&M are not the first group to try
and remote control cockroaches.
In 2012, researchers at the North
Carolina State University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
were able to wirelessly send electrical impulses to an electrical device on a
cockroach’s back, which stimulated either left or right movement.
"What we do is similar to
riding a horse," assistant professor Alper Bozkurt said.
"[The] cockroach walks naturally, and we
simulate barriers by sending pulses to its antenna. They use their antenna as
touch sensors, so stimulation on one side directs these insects towards the
opposite direction,” he said, as reported by the journal Nature.
No comments:
Post a Comment