Radio-controlled
cockroaches maybe among the worst of your nightmares, as there are at least
four species that like to hang out with us in our homes. They are quiet
neighbors and will run off and hide if they think we’re watching them. They are
hardy little beasts and undemanding in diet. However, they are not your
everyday pet choice with perhaps the exception of the hissing variety which
come from Madagascar and can eat rotting wood, fruit etc.
They
are very good at getting into crevices and small places in general and are
quite happy moving around in the dark. Discovery News reports out on a paper
presented at the IEEE conference in San Diego (1)
on the latest biobot. A
more detailed report and a video are available from Shipman’s report in
PhysOrg. News from N.C. State U (2).
In their lab, Latif and
Bozkurt fitted out some hissing cockroaches with a radio receiver in a
personalized backpack. The radio was wired up to a controller attached to
either antenna to steer the beastie.
Charge up an antennae and
your roach thinks it has hit a wall and will move away, so with judicious, but
shocking behavior on the roach-pilot’s part, your favorite pet may be steered
along a course.
In case they got lazy,
electronic spurs were connected to the abdominal organs that sense air movement.
The electric sensation gives your roach the feeling that something big that
eats roach burger is coming and it hurries off.
The BIG question is why do
we want radio-controlled cockroaches in the first place? Why accept the
challenge? Because it’s there. Then once you have them wandering about ideas
come pouring forth. Send them into collapsed building with sensors top detect
trapped people is one suggested in the reports.
There is another
possibility that is much more likely to appeal to the general public. There is
just time to get the production lines going for the Holiday Season. Sell small
groups with a controller that can be run from an iPhone or Android app so
people can have races around the carpet.
If this catches on and
people get skilled, I can visualize large public meetings with big prizes for
the fastest roach and most skilled pilot. It could replace pool tables and dart
boards in pubs and bars. Much cheaper to keep, feed and transport than a
thoroughbred horse.
- http://news.discovery.com/tech/remote-controlled-cockroach-120907.html
- http://phys.org/news/2012-09-technique-remotely-cockroaches-video.html#nwlt
