When most people see cockroaches, they want to search and destroy. But scientists are now working with roaches to get them into search and rescue missions.
“Biobots as we call them or biological robots,” Dr. Bozkurt says.
Dr. Alper Bozkurt and his electrical engineering students at North Carolina State University have been installing circuit boards and microcontrollers on Madagascar hissing roaches.
Using a joystick, they can steer the roach along a chosen pathway by applying tiny electrical current to the antennae and other sensors on the bug.
Stimulating the antenna makes the roach think there's an obstacle that it veers away from.
The researchers compare it to riding a horse, pulling on the reins to direct it, though often the roaches disregard the electrical nudging.
The robo roach project just received a $880,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
Entomologists say it's hard to say what a roach feels, they have nerves yet such a primitive system that it's likely they don't perceive pain like humans do.
