If a new research bears fruition, then hundreds of cyborg bugs carrying radio transmitters, like backpacks, could lead search-and-research missions in the near future.
In conditions that are dangerous or inaccessible for humans, the cyborg bugs could help emergency responders by giving "a quick picture of the environment."
A paper North Carolina State University researchers will present in November, proposes that live insects like cockroaches can be used to map the interiors of difficult-to-access locations.
Per the researchers, the insects will be connected to a tiny electronics pack, which will enable people to control their movements and organize them into a swarm that can map the location of walls.
"We focused on how to map areas where you have little or no precise information on where each biobot is, such as a collapsed building where you can't use GPS technology," said senior paper author Edgar Lobaton. "One characteristic of biobots is that their movement can be somewhat random. We're exploiting that random movement to work in our favor."
The insects will first be allowed to spread out randomly and then the controller will send a signal to move till the bugs hit a "wall or other unbroken surface - and then continue moving along the wall" which is known as "wall following."
Researchers repeat the random movement cycle and "wall following" several times, to continuously accumulate data from the sensors whenever the biobots are near each other. Commands are relayed through electrodes that are connected to the bugs'antennae. The information pertaining to location is received via sensors that are beamed back through radio signals. The software then uses an algorithm to translate the signals into a rough map of the unidentified environment.
"This would give first responders a good idea of the layout in a previously unmapped area," Lobaton says.
The cyborg bugs can also be equipped with sensors that collate other types of data like the existence of chemical or radioactive threats.
