Australian scientists have turned giant cockroaches into controlled "paramedics." The insects were equipped with cameras and miniature injectors so that in the future they could find people under rubble and deliver medicine to them before rescuers get there. The system is called Paraborg.
Australian scientists have turned giant cockroaches into controlled "paramedics." The insects were equipped with cameras and miniature injectors so that in the future they could find people under rubble and deliver medicine to them before rescuers get there. The system is called Paraborg.
This was reported by the University of Queensland.
The project is being developed by researchers at the University of Queensland, in collaboration with experts from the University of New South Wales. They used giant burrowing cockroaches from north Queensland, which are about 8.5 cm long. They are large enough to carry electronics, a camera or an injection mechanism.
The cockroach can be controlled remotely using implanted electrodes. A signal to one of the antennae causes the insect to turn, and stimulation of two cerci, small organs on the back of its body, helps accelerate its movement. During the tests, one cockroach with a camera acted as a scout and helped the operator find the target, while the other carried a system for administering the liquid.
In laboratory tests, the controlled cockroaches reached the designated control points 100% of the time. The complete task, i.e., following the route, positioning themselves correctly near the target, and injecting, was achieved in 72% of the attempts. If the cockroach was already within 15 cm of the target, the injection success rate reached 95%.
The experiments were conducted in controlled laboratory conditions with silicone targets and pig skin, but in the future, the developers are considering scenarios where such a system could deliver emergency treatment to a person trapped under rubble or in a cave.
Scientists explain the choice of cockroaches by the fact that it is difficult to create a robot that is so small that it would be agile, hardy and consume very little energy. In the future, researchers want to send entire swarms of such cyborgs with different specializations into the rubble: some will carry cameras and sensors, others - medical or rescue equipment.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about another project by researchers from the University of Queensland - controlled cyborg beetles, which are planned to be used to search for people under rubble.
