Eek! Remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches are real
Scientists with a high tolerance for creepy-crawlies have figured out how to create and control cyborg cockroaches.
How would you like to see this scooting across your kitchen floor?
(Credit: North Carolina State University)If Borg ships have vermin on them, they look exactly like a project researchers at North Carolina State University are working on.
These intrepid scientists have taken a lightweight chip with a wireless receiver and transmitter and attached it to a cockroach like a little backpack. For the record, large Madagascar hissing cockroaches are the roach of choice.
A microcontroller is connected to the roach's antennae and cerci (rear sensory organs). Small charges from the wires to the cerci trick the roach into moving in response to a perceived threat. Charges sent to the antennae make the roach think it's bumped into something. Between the two, you have a fairly sophisticated method of cockroach steering.
The researchers imagine using this cyborg cockroach technology to send the little beasties into tight spaces to search for survivors after disasters.
I imagine using this cyborg cockroach technology to scare the bejesus out of unsuspecting friends and for reenacting "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes with cockroach actors.
