Now, 'Cyborg cockroach' that can be wireless carrier too

Scientists have developed technology that allows cyborg cockroaches, or biobots, to pick up sounds with small microphones and seek out the source of the sound, which is designed to help emergency personnel find and rescue survivors in the aftermath of a disaster.

North Carolina State University researchers have also developed technology that can be used as an "invisible fence" to keep the biobots in the disaster area.

Alper Bozkurt, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State, said that the biobots are equipped with electronic backpacks that control the cockroach's movements and the team has created two types of customized backpacks using microphones, while one type of biobot has a single microphone that can capture relatively high-resolution sound from any direction to be wirelessly transmitted to first responders.

The second type of biobot is equipped with an array of three directional microphones to detect the direction of the sound. The research team has also developed algorithms that analyze the sound from the microphone array to localize the source of the sound and steer the biobot in that direction. The system worked well during laboratory testing.

Bozkurt said that the goal is to use the biobots with high-resolution microphones to differentiate between sounds that matter - like people calling for help - from sounds that don't matter - like a leaking pipe and once they have identified sounds that matter, they can use the biobots equipped with microphone arrays to zero in on where those sounds are coming from.