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After the cyborg cows of Utah, meet the Connecticut cyborg cockroach.
While you can read about the cyborg cows in this Inquisitr article, the creation of the cyborg cockroach has just been announced this week by the University of Connecticut – and the reason this creature exists is likely to blow you up.
As the university explains, the creation is a hybrid robot-roach – essentially a wired organic insect that can be designed to obey human commands.
The subject is a whistling cockroach from Madagascar (Gromphadorhina porterosa) which has been improved by technology and can be controlled by a special microcircuit, designed to fit into the back of the insect and be worn as a backpack.
Also known as a neural controller, the microcircuit was developed by Professor Abhishek Dutta and undergraduate student Evan Faulkner, who Geek described as "a couple of real life Dr. Frankensteins."
The reason why both chose the wheezing cockroach from Madagascar is that this particular arthropod is among the largest cockroach species existing and can reach a length of three inches (7.6 centimeters). So there is more space to place the technology.
At the same time, cockroaches whistling in Madagascar are excellent climbers, equipped to face even smooth glass, which means that they can infiltrate into places that, for the sake of other creatures, remain inaccessible. And, in the end, people keep these robots not so tiny like pets, note Geek.
The cyborg cockroach can save your life, haunt your dreams https://t.co/iaUImimUa5 pic.twitter.com/V0xhV4OlhK
– Geek Technology (@GeekTechology) September 7, 2018
The way it all works is by sending short electrical pulses to the roach's antenna lobes via a set of wires connected to the microcircuit. These signals are perceived by the insect as obstacles and cause an immediate reaction, changing the trajectory of the cockroach and moving in the desired direction.
For example, an electrical signal sent to the cockroach's right lobe will turn it to the left and vice versa. This allows the operator to control the movements of the insect using a tiny Bluetooth transmitter and receiver, making it a cyborg cockroach ready to go, wherever you say it.
"The power steering is redefined," notes the university in a humorous remark.
In case you wonder if this device is harmful to the bug, University of Connecticut officials assure you that no cockroach has been hurt by these experiments.
As Interesting engineering points out that the smart backpack used to control robo-cockroach is a featherweight; at the same time, the electrical impulses sent to direct the insect have exactly the same charge that cockroaches normally get when they are doing their cockroach thing.
# Microbots #SwarmRobotics : A cyborg cockroach could one day save your life.
The new microcircuit provides a sophisticated system of real-time data acquisition on the cape and acceleration of an insect, allowing researchers to extrapolate its trajectory – https://t.co/o3youdWnJ2 pic.twitter.com/Paru7G6dXF– The Royal Vox Post (@RoyalVoxPost) September 6, 2018
According to their creator, robot-roach hybrids could one day serve the very noble purpose of saving lives, including participating in search and rescue operations.
"The use of insects as platforms for small robots has an incredible number of useful applications, from search and rescue to national defense," Dutta said in a statement.
In fact, robo-cockroaches are far from new, with other teams developing their own insect movement control systems. What distinguishes this invention, is the fact that it provides a "more reliable and more precise control of the robotic movement of insects," says the university.
The chip design includes a nine-axis inertial measurement unit and a temperature sensor. This allows him to detect six degrees of free movement, acceleration and direction, while measuring the ambient temperature to predict where the cyborg cockroaches could move without the influence of electrical stimuli. .
"Our microcircuit provides a sophisticated system of real-time data acquisition on the cape and acceleration of an insect, allowing us to extrapolate its trajectory," says Dutta. "We believe that this advanced closed-loop model system provides better control over precision maneuvers and overcomes some of the technical limitations currently facing today's micro-robots.
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