Engineers may have already created cyborg cockroaches, but now they have fitted beetles with radio transmitter ‘backpacks’, which enable them to control the flight of insects in mid-air for the first time.
Researchers were able to make the beetles take off and land, as well as hover in mid-air and turn left and right on a whim.
The technology could eventually lead to the insects being used as surveillance drones in disaster areas.
Scientists have fitted beetles with radio transmitter ‘backpacks’, which have enabled them to control the flight of insects in mid-air, for the first time. They were able to make the beetles take off and land, as well as hover in mid-air (pictured) and turn left and right on a whim
The engineers behind the feat say that hard-wiring beetles for radio-controlled flight has enabled them to reveal more about the insects’ biology. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) focused on muscle used by beetles for finely graded turns.
They used giant flower beetles, Mecynorrhina torquata, which were just two inches (6cm) long on average and weighed 0.3 ounces (eight grams).
In the short-term, the engineers behind the feat say that hard-wiring beetles for radio-controlled flight will enable them to reveal more about the insects’ biology. Here, one of the researchers controls a cyborg beetle in the enclosed space used to study their movement
By strapping tiny computers and wireless radios onto the backs of the beetles (pictured), and recording neuromuscular data as the bugs flew untethered, the team of scientists worked out that a muscle known for controlling the folding of wings was also critical to steering
By strapping tiny computers and wireless radios onto the backs of the beetles, and recording neuromuscular data as the bugs flew untethered, the team of scientists worked out that a muscle known for controlling the folding of wings is also critical to steering.
They used the information to improve the precision of the beetles' remote-controlled turns, according to the study, which was published in the journal Current Biology.
As well as highlighting the potential of wireless sensors in biological research, scientists believe that research in this field could also lead to applications such as tools to aid search-and-rescue operations in areas too dangerous for humans.
‘Beetles are ideal study subjects because they can carry relatively heavy payloads,’ said Hirotaka Sato, an assistant professor at NTU.
‘We could easily add a small microphone and thermal sensors for applications in search-and-rescue missions. With this technology, we could safely explore areas not accessible before, such as the small nooks and crevices in a collapsed building.’
Michel Maharbiz, an associate professor in UC Berkeley, said: ‘This is a demonstration of how tiny electronics can answer interesting, fundamental questions for the larger scientific community.’
‘Biologists trying to record and study flying insects typically had to do so with the subject tethered. It had been unclear if tethering interfered with the insect's natural flight motions.’
The technology could eventually lead to the insects being used as surveillance drones so that insects could be manoeuvred into risky locations such as disaster zones and collapsed buildings (pictured) instead of putting human lives at risk
Before now, it had been difficult to explain the role that smaller muscles play in fine steering.
The study has revealed that the coleopteran third axillary sclerite (3Ax) muscle, which is found in the articulation of insect wings, plays a key function in the beetle's ability to steer left or right.
Professor Sato said: ‘Since the 1800s, this coleopteran muscle was thought to function solely in wing folding.
‘Our wireless system allows us to record neuromuscular movements in natural, free flight, so we see now that this muscle is also used for turning.’
The researchers tested the function of this muscle by stimulating it during flight for graded turns made by giant flower beetles.
This was done using the beetle ‘backpack’ which comprised a tiny microcontroller, built-in wireless receiver and transmitter.
Six electrodes were connected to the beetle's optic lobes and flight muscles.
During test flights, signals were transmitted to the beetle backpack every millisecond, directing the beetles to take off, turn left or right, or even hover in mid-flight.
The beetles were untethered but in a closed room equipped with eight 3-D motion-capture cameras.
Professor Maharbiz said: ‘Our findings about the flight muscle allowed us to demonstrate for the first time a higher level of control of free-flying beetles. It's a great partnership between engineering and science.’
...COCKROACHES COULD SEEK OUT VICTIMS BURIED UNDER BUILDINGS
In November last year, researchers at North Carolina State University fitted cockroaches with electrical 'backpacks' complete with tiny microphones to detect the faintest of sounds.
The idea is that cyborg cockroaches, or ‘biobots’, could enter crumpled buildings hit by earthquakes, for example, and help emergency workers find survivors.
‘In a collapsed building, sound is the best way to find survivors,’ said Alper Bozkurt, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the university.
‘The goal is to use the biobots with high-resolution microphones to differentiate between sounds that matter - like people calling for help - from sounds that don't matter - like a leaking pipe.
Rise of the robo-roach: Scientists have developed technology that allows cyborg cockroaches, or biobots (pictured) to pick up sounds with small microphones and seek out the source of the sound. They could one day be used in emergency situations to detect survivors
‘Once we've identified sounds that matter, we can use the biobots equipped with microphone arrays to zero-in on where those sounds are coming from.’
The ‘backpacks’ control the robo-roach's movements because they are wired to the insect’s cerci - sensory organs that cockroaches usually use to feel if their abdomens brush against something.
By electrically stimulating the cerci, cockroaches can be prompted to move in a certain direction.
In fact, they have been programmed to seek out sound.
One type of 'backpack' is equipped with an array of three directional microphones to detect the direction of the sound and steer the biobot in the right direction towards it.
Another type is fitted with a single microphone to capture sound from any direction, which can be wirelessly transmitted - perhaps in the future to emergency workers.
They ‘worked well’ in lab tests and the experts have developed technology that can be used as an ‘invisible fence’ to keep the biobots in a certain area such as a disaster area, the researchers announced at the IEEE Sensors 2014 conference in Valencia, Spain.
A previous study led by Dr Edgar Lobaton, who is also at the university, showed that biobots can be used to map a disaster area.
Dr Lobaton and Professor Bozkurt plan on merging their research to both map disaster areas and pinpoint survivors.
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