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Cockroaches' flattened bodies can sneak into places no human could. They eat almost anything, and they're nearly indestructible. All of these qualities make them ideal mounts for search-and-rescue operations, among other more dubious tasks like surveillance. That's why a team from Osaka University in Japan and Diponegoro University in Indonesia decided that cyborg cockroaches would be a good idea.
The concept involves combining the best of both worlds: the organic anatomy of a cockroach, finely tuned over millions of years of evolution to navigate small spaces and aggressive environments, directed to a target of a human's choosing with a few electronic jolts from a high-tech backpack.
"Creating a functioning robot at a small scale is a challenging task; we wanted to overcome this obstacle by keeping things simple," explains lead author Mohammad Ariyanto, a mechanical engineer at Diponegoro University. "By simply attaching electronic devices to insects, we can avoid the small details of robotics and focus on achieving our goals."
Let's be honest: even the most advanced robots are pretty unstoppable when it comes to movement. There's a level of detail in animal movements that our best automatons haven't even begun to crack. This becomes especially apparent when it comes to vertical navigation: as all Whovians know, many robots can be easily overpowered by a simple ladder. On the other hand, a cockroach can climb walls, scale perimeters, enter pipes, and even tolerate low-oxygen environments.
Instead of starting from scratch, the team wanted to see if they could use Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) install sensors that detect movement, obstacles, humidity, temperature and other data, and implant electrodes on the antennae and body that can be used to control the insect. The whole process is called a “biohybrid behavior-based navigation system (BIOBBN)”, and it is based on “reach to avoid” programming, which involves reaching a certain location while avoiding any obstacles that arise along the way. BIOBBN has two navigation algorithms: one for simple environments and another for more complex situations.
“The first navigation system could use a bulkier and heavier electronic backpack, while the second required a more compact and lighter one to enable its complex terrain navigation,” the authors write.
They tested the bio-hacked roaches on an obstacle course filled with sand, rocks, and wood. Navigation commands were used sparingly to make sure the cyborg reached its goal, but otherwise the animals were mostly allowed to find their way on their own, avoiding or overcoming obstacles and righting themselves when things went awry.
“This algorithm… used natural behaviors of cockroaches, such as wall following and climbing, to navigate around and through obstacles,” the authors write. “The second dense scenario required more time due to increased obstacle avoidance and natural climbing behaviors.”
The authors hope that these beetle bots could be used to inspect dangerous debris left behind by war and natural disasters, and even to locate survivors and rescue workers in distress. They could send data from places that are unsuitable for humans: narrow building shafts, deep underground tunnels, and sensitive cultural heritage sites. The team also notes their potential value in surveillance, a much more alarming prospect.
“I believe our insect cyborgs can achieve goals with less effort and power than purely mechanical robots,” says wet robotics engineer Keisuke Morishima of Osaka University. “Our autonomous biohybrid navigation system overcomes challenges traditionally faced by robots, such as recovery from falls. This is what is needed to move beyond the laboratory and into real-world scenarios, such as the wild.”
Of course, it's unclear how cockroaches feel about all this. This study was published in Soft Robotics.
