Researchers develop remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches

The concept of human-controlled insects looks like a script from a Hollywood movie, but researchers from Texas University have designed remote-controlled insect cyborg by fusing a live cockroach with a miniature computer wired into their nervous system.

Hong Liang, research project leader at Texas AandM University, said that insects can do things a robot cannot and they could go into small places, sense the environment, and if there was movement, from a predator say, they could escape much better than a system designed by a human, the Daily Express reported.

The Texan-based experts stuck miniature three-gramme rucksacks onto the cockroaches' backs with paint, containing a computer chip which sends signals down two tiny wires into the nervous system to control leg movement and rechargeable battery.

Researchers' report, titled 'Locomotion control of hybrid cockroach robots', said that through the control of the input signal using a transmitter, a user can control the locomotion of the discoid cockroach with high repeatability.

The report added that the current system requires visual feedback from the operator in order to apply the necessary pulse characteristics to control the roach's turning behaviour and this method requires the operator to have extensive experience, as well as constant visual contact with the roach.