Japan: The invention of electronic "backpacks" for cockroaches guides the rescue of disaster survivors
If an earthquake occurs in the future and survivors are trapped under tons of rubble, the first responders to locate them could be swarms of "cyborg cockroaches".
This is a potential application of a recent innovation by Japanese researchers who succeeded in installing "backpacks" of solar cells and electronics on insects and controlling their movement from a distance.
Kenjiro Fukuda and his team at the Japanese research giant RIKEN's Thin-Film Devices Laboratory have developed a flexible strip of solar cells that is four microns thick, about a quarter the width of a human hair, and can fit into an insect's abdomen.
According to "Reuters", the tape allows the cockroach to move freely while the solar cell generates enough energy to process and send guidance signals to the sense organs in the back of the insect.
The work builds on previous insect control experiments at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and could one day produce cyborgs, which combine their natural biology with advanced equipment built into their bodies and can enter dangerous areas more efficiently than robots.
"The batteries inside the small robots run out quickly, so the exploration time becomes shorter," Fukuda said. "The main advantage of a cyborg is that in terms of the insect's movement, the insect is moving on its own, so the electricity required is not as much."
Fukuda and his team chose Madagascar crickets for the experiments because they are large enough to carry equipment and do not have wings to snag them.
Even when the backpack and the solar cell are attached to their backs, insects can pass small obstacles or reposition themselves if they are overturned.
In a recent demonstration, and according to "Sky News Arabia", Yujiro Kaki, a researcher at Riken, used a specialized computer and wireless Bluetooth technology to order a cyborg cockroach to turn left, which made it rush in this direction, but when the direction signal was given to the "right" it moved. Insect in circles.
The next challenge is to make the components smaller so that insects can move around more easily and to allow the installation of sensors and even cameras.
Kiki said he made the cyborg backpack using spare parts worth 5,000 yen ($35) purchased from the popular Akihabara electronics district in Tokyo.
The backpack and solar cells can be removed, allowing the cockroaches to come back to life in the lab.
Beyond disaster rescue insects, Fukuda sees wide applications for solar-cell tape, which is made up of microscopic layers of plastic, silver and gold.
It can be embedded in clothing or skin tags for use in monitoring vital signs.
On a sunny day, he said, a canopy covered with the material could generate enough electricity to charge a mobile phone.
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