Cyborg roaches to help rescue disaster survivors

Imagine a fleet of cyborg cockroaches roaming into damaged nuclear power plants to aid rescue operations!
Researchers have implanted live cockroaches with electrodes that stimulate the nerves in the insects' antennae, enabling them to steer the creatures around like remote-controlled toys.
Cockroaches are better than any small-scale robots that exist today, said Hong Liang, from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
Liang said the remote-controlled roaches can "go anywhere you guide them to," including places humans could not go, such as disaster zones.
Researchers implanted electrodes in the nerves of American and discoid cockroaches. They glued tiny backpacks to the backs of the roaches, which were large enough to support them, 'Live Science' reported.

Each pack held a micro-controller, wireless transceiver and a battery.

The resulting cyborg roaches were made to run on a trackball, while the researchers pressed buttons to deliver electrical zaps to the nerves in the insects' thoraxes, causing them to turn left or right.
Researchers were also able to make the roaches walk and turn in the desired direction 60 per cent of the time.
They are now developing a noninvasive version of the cockroach control system, which uses a vibrating motor positioned near the roaches' antennae to make the insects move.
The research was published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.