In an impressive scientific feat, researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have fitted backpacks to a cockroach to dictate the direction of its movement In this way, the scientists can essentially decide which direction the cockroach moves, akin to controlling a rowing boat with oars. When the left cercus was stimulated, the insect made a right turn – in a clockwise rotation – and vice versa. The cockroach also had electrodes implanted in its cerci – the protruding appendages on its left and right side.Įlectrical currents were delivered to the two cerci via the electrodes to induce turning, allowing the scientists to control the direction it moved in. In lab trials, the team fitted the backpack to a Madagascar hissing cockroach and successfully used it to find humans in a simulated disaster scene.
The backpack, created by a team at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, is a small computer chip fitted with an infrared camera, carbon dioxide sensor and a temperature/humidity sensor, among other functions. Scientists have demonstrated how a live cockroach equipped with a computerised 'backpack' could be steered remotely for search and rescue missions.
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