Remote Control Cyborg Insects Now A Reality
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 25 of September , 2009 at 1:24 am
Those DARPA funded cyborg insects we wrote about last year have made significant progress, and are now flying completely untethered and under contro. By using direct optical lobe stimulation, the bugs can be steered left and right and up and down, and they also respond to stop and start commands. Basically, everything you could want in a remote control bug.
The awesome part is that this implant only steers the insect, and only when necessary. Once the bug is pointing in the right direction, the steering signal cuts out, and the bug self-stabilizes and gets back to the tricky business of flying, which it was just fine at before some roboticist stuck a bunch of wires into its optic lobe, thank you very much. As you can see from the video, the insect has no trouble landing itself on a vertical surface, a maneuver which would be, uh, a little bit difficult to code.
The next step, obviously, is getting the insect to do something useful, like carrying a camera. The bug can carry up to 30% of its own weight as payload (that works out to about 2.5 grams), but the controller and an antenna capable of operating at any significant distance is going to eat up a lot of that. It’s only a matter of time, though, and based on the rate of progression on this project so far, that time is probably a lot sooner than you think.
[ Science Blogs ] VIA [ Danger Room ]
Comments (6)
Category: Cybernetics, Research
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Comment by Atul Sowani
Made Friday, 25 of September , 2009 at 2:04 am
I strongly oppose this branch of robotics. It is unethical and cruel. Killing a few lives for research is understandable. Have guts and copy the nature, don’t enslave poor lives! I am sure this will eventually lead to creation of human cyborgs and the experiments will first be conducted on people from third world countries. Stop! Stop this!
Comment by GammaHammer
Made Friday, 25 of September , 2009 at 3:37 pm
Get a grip dude….!
I’d rather see a eugenics program for weeding out socio-religiously programed idiots.
Comment by classy
Made Friday, 25 of September , 2009 at 11:12 pm
death to all bugs!
Comment by electric gate
Made Monday, 30 of November , 2009 at 7:05 am
oops! was just doing a google search on electric gates for a project at work and somehow got sidetracked here. Much more interesting than what I’m supposed to be doing so thanks for the diversion I guess lol. Will be back!
Comment by Walter Spatula
Made Tuesday, 15 of December , 2009 at 12:40 am
oh god, i’m from a third world country! you wouldn’t do this to us, would you?
Comment by KH2107
Made Thursday, 21 of January , 2010 at 8:01 am
This is so cool. I wonder why Atul sowani disagree with it. it is not cruelty. it is the technology. do you know how many animals are being used for drug experiments??? But it save so many lives. May be this bug will save someone. Go for it BUG……..
