Cyborg Beetle Joins the Army
Posted October 13th, 2009 by simon
Research funded by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has led scientists at the University of California to realise an idea from a sci-fi novel and create a remote controlled beetle. They have plugged electrical devices into the flower beetle’s nervous system while it is in the pupal stage. They can’t control take off and landing but they can control the direction it turns in flight. The military application is unclear but it could involve surveillance, using the insects as couriers or even as tiny insect assassins.
The technology is in the early stages and at the moment the payload of the beetle is a microprocessor, a radio receiver and a battery. Flight commands are transmitted wirelessly and the beetle can be controlled via a laptop. Apparently there have been previous attempts to control insects in this way from moths to cockroaches. The three large species of beetles they are using in this project are capable of carrying heavier payloads which makes them more suitable. This is creepy stuff.
