"Biobots", in the form of flying cyborg moths, could be information gatherers in future search and rescue operations too dangerous for human to undertake, U.S. researchers say.
Researchers at North Carolina State University say they have developed the potential to use electronics to control the flight muscles in insects such as moths, setting the stage for the potential creation of remote-control insects, or "biobots," useful in emergencies or in disaster response.
The researchers implanted an electrode into a moth's flight muscles while it was still in its cocoon in its late pupal stage, so that the implant effectively became part of the adult moth's body.
Although in their initial tests with the moth they didn't actually manipulate its flight muscles, theydid manage to monitor the insect's electromyographic signals, the electric signals it utilizes to tell those muscles how to move in flight.
"By watching how the moth uses its wings to steer while in flight, and matching those movements with their corresponding electromyographic signals, we're getting a much better understanding of how moths maneuver through the air," says Alper Bozkurt, an engineering professor and co-author of a study published in the Journal of Visualized Experiments.
The findings could lead to technologies to achieve remote control of insects in flight, he says.
Bozkurt envisions a future in which a swarm of insect "biobots" would be flown into disaster areas too hazardous for humans, to gather data on damage, identify public health hazards and search for survivors.
They could also be used as tiny flying spies, and the concept of cyborg insects was first explored at Cornell University several years ago for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency of the Pentagon.
Bozkurt worked with researchers at Cornell to develop the technology of implanting electrodes into insects during the pupal or cocoon stage.
It's not the first time the NC State researchers have equipped insects with artificial "cyborg" attachments; in 2012, Bozkurt and other research colleagues showed they could guide a Madagascar hissing cockroach through a chosen route by transmitting electrical signals to its antennae and some additional sensory organs.
Still, there's lots of work ahead to create biobots as a usable tool, he says.
"We now have a platform for collecting data about flight coordination," Bozkurt says. "Next steps include developing an automated system to explore and fine-tune parameters for controlling moth flight, further miniaturizing the technology, and testing the technology in free-flying moths."
