Remote-controlled cyborg beetle
REMOTE-CONTROLLED insects may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but they have already been under development for some time now. In 2006, for example, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, the Pentagon’s research and development branch) launched the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems program, whose ultimate aim is to turn insects into unmanned aerial vehicles.
Such projects provide proof of principle, but have met with limited success. Until now, that is. In the open access journal Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, a team of electrical engineers led by Hirotaka Sato of the University of California, Berkeley, report the development of an implantable radio-controlled neural stimulating device, with which they demonstrate, for the very first time, the accurate control of flight in freely flying insects.
The miniaturized system developed by Sato and his colleagues is mounted onto the pronotum (the dorsal, or upper, plate of the exoskeleton), and consists of electrodes implanted into the brain and wing muscles and a microbattery. Flight commands to start and stop flight and control the insect’s elevation and turning were generated on a personal computer running specialized software, and transmitted to a microcontroller equipped with a radio transceiver…
More here.
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Christopher is the founder of iMod - Most of his time is spent building websites and pushing the limits with Search Engine Optimization. You can follow him on Twitter @ChristopherM
Chris M has written: 4759 posts.
Sep 26th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Oooh, I want one.
Sep 27th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Hehe, I presume they’ll be used for intelligence – imagine the possibilities if they get the range really high..
Sep 30th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I came across this as well. Very cool, and very scary at the same time…
Oct 2nd, 2009 at 12:07 am
Agreed, there’s an element of “worry” in there!