Subscribe now

Technology

Cyborg cockroach with camera ‘backpack’ can be steered remotely

By Matthew Sparkes

8 June 2021

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

A Madagascar hissing cockroach with a computer on its back and electrodes connected to its sensory organs

NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

A cockroach fitted with a “backpack” computer and infrared camera, controlled by electrodes, could help locate warm bodies in the rubble of buildings destroyed by earthquakes.

Hirotaka Sato at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and his colleagues fitted Madagascar hissing cockroaches with tiny computers connected to electrodes implanted in sensory organs known as cerci on the left and right side of each insect. When a current is applied to the organ, the insect rotates in that direction, and it…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox! We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, subscribe today with our introductory offers

Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop