Cyborg Insect Handled Through Remote Control Developed; Researchers Claim This New 'Robo-Bug' May Help Inspect, Monitor Hazardous Places

An international team of researchers from the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research has recently engineered a system to develop remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches equipped with a small wireless control module run by a rechargeable battery attached to a solar cell.

A EurekAlert! Report specified that mechanical devices, ultrathin electronics and flexible materials enable the insects to move liberally. Such achievements will help use cyborg insects as "a practical reality."

Researchers have been attempting to design cyborg insects, which means part insect and part machine, to help inspect hazardous sites or monitor the environment.

Nonetheless, for the use of cyborg insects to be practical, handlers need to be able to control them remotely for long periods.

'Wireless Control'

A new study published in the npj Flexible Electronics scientific journal, the researchers said this innovation requires "wireless control of their leg segments," run by a small rechargeable battery.

Keeping the battery sufficiently charged is essential. Nobody wants an abrupt out-of-control team of cyborg cockroaches roaming around.

Whereas it is possible to construct docking stations for recharging the battery, the need to return and recharge could interrupt time-sensitive missions. Hence, the best solution is to include an onboard solar cell that can continuously guarantee that the battery remains charged.

To succeed in incorporating the devices into a cockroach with limited surface area necessitated the study investigators to devise a special backpack, ultrathin solar cell modules, and an adhesive system that keeps the machinery attached for long periods while also enabling natural movements.

Led by RIKEN CPR's Kenjiro Fukudura, the team experimented with Madagascar cockroaches roughly six centimeters long.

The researchers attached the wireless leg-controlled module and lithium polymer battery to the top of the thorax's insect through a specially designed backpack, which was modeled after a model cockroach's body.

3D Printed Backpack

The backpack was 3D printed with an elastic polymer. It also conformed perfectly to the cockroach's curved surface, enabling the rigid electronic device to be stably mounted on the thorax for over one month.

The ultrathin organic solar cell molecule was mounted on the dorsal side of the insect's abdomen. According to Fukuda, the body-mounted ultrathin organic solar module achieves a 17.2-megawatt power output over 50 times more massive than the existing state-of-the-art energy harvesting devices embedded in living insects.

The ultrathin and flexible organic solar cell and how it was attached to the inset proved essential to guarantee freedom of movement.

Natural Cockroach Movement Analyzed

After carefully analyzing natural cockroach movements, the study investigators realized that the abdomen changes portions and the shape of the exoskeleton overlap.

To accommodate such an analysis, the team interleaved adhesive and nonadhesive sections into the films, which enabled them to bend but remain attached.

When the team tested the thicker solar films, or when the films got uniformly attached, the cockroaches took two times as long to run the same distance and experienced difficulty "righting themselves on their backs," Nanowerk specified in a similar report.

Related information about Cyborg cockroaches is shown on WIRED's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Robotics in Science Times.