from the devices-that-should-be-cloud-connected dept.
Researchers make cyborg cockroaches that carry their own power packs
Solar cell and a battery can keep the cyborg's electronics running for weeks.
Have you ever thought you'd be seeing a cyborg cockroach that runs on solar power and carries a backpack that looks like an electric circuit? A team of researchers at Japan's RIKEN research institute has turned a regular Madagascar hissing cockroach into a real cyborg insect by connecting a lithium battery, a solar cell, multiple wires, and a tiny electronic circuit. The cyborg can be controlled using Bluetooth signals, and the researchers suggest that, in the future, such robo-bugs could be employed for search-and-rescue missions.
The researchers refer to their cyborg as an insect-computer hybrid system, and it incorporates a living insect as a platform and a mini-electronic system as its controller. Basically, it's a biobot that can be controlled like a robot, but it has the power to explore and navigate a complex environment with the proficiency of an insect.
[...] Whenever the researchers want the cockroach to move, they send a Bluetooth signal to the circuit board, which transmits electric current to the legs via the wires.
[...] other scientists proposed additional types of biorobots ranging from moth robots to cyborg beetles. However, most of these cyborg insects lack energy-harvesting devices on their body because the area and load of the harvesting device considerably impair their mobility. So adding a suitable energy-harvesting device (the solar cell) for recharging the electronic controlling unit on a cyborg insect has been one of the main achievements of their research.
Forget search and rescue. Imagine a data center or giant brain designed to be filled with these for servicing.
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Tuesday October 18 2022, @12:38PM (4 children)
A solar cell? On a cockroach?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 18 2022, @05:53PM (1 child)
To recharge the battery that powers the processor which directs the cockroach what it is supposed to do.
Finally! At long last! Cyborg Cockroaches. That do what they are told.
Too bad they are controlled by Bluetooth instead of WiFi from the cloud.
How else is anyone supposed to know what they are supposed to be doing without a microprocessor, battery and solar panel attached to their brain?
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 4, Funny) by sonamchauhan on Wednesday October 19 2022, @09:35AM
Yes. I wonder how much CPU the processor will spend reminding the cockroach to go out into the light.
Cyborg cockroaches! Why didn't Hollywood see this coming?
RoboRoach!
Universal Roach!
Terminatoroach!
The Lawnmower Roach!
Iron Roach!
Alita: Battle Roach!
(Score: 3, Funny) by weeds on Wednesday October 19 2022, @01:30AM (1 child)
Hmm remote controlled cockroach. Sounds like The Fifth Element
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DrHMBletjXg [youtube.com]
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Wednesday October 19 2022, @09:37AM
Hahah! Thanks - I'd forgotten this.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by kazzie on Tuesday October 18 2022, @05:30PM (1 child)
While they're in there, maybe they could search for bugs in the system?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday October 19 2022, @02:14PM
That deserves more of a *groan* mod than anything.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @07:42PM
a cyborg cockroach that runs on solar power and carries a backpack that looks like an electric circuit