A research group from the University of Tsukuba, Japan that is Digital Nature Group produced a new innovation by modifying Madagascar-type cockroaches into cyborgs as maid agents.
Called the Calmbots, the cockroach body is fitted with electrodes, antenna chips, batteries, and pixels attached to the back to be used as a display.
Serving to help with household chores, the cyborg cockroach is capable of transporting objects around the home area, drawing on paper, detecting sounds, working as an army of ants, and so on.
According to the Daily Mail, the Madagascar cockroach was chosen because of its defensive ability, movement, strength, and ability to hide.
“In the future, they’ll appear out of nowhere without us recognizing it, fulfilling their tasks, and then hiding,” the group said.
After being modified into a cyborg, the group conducted tests on the cockroach through wall surfaces, carpet mats, and floors with cables.
“We devised option parts attached to cockroaches, making them capable of drawing lines and transporting objects,” researchers shared in a statement.
“Third, we controlled multiple cockroaches effectively by developing control based on the principle of worker ants, which exists in a swarm of ants.
“When there appear out-of-control cockroaches, we utilized the substitute cockroaches to continue the ongoing task,” the researcher added.
In addition, this cyborg cockroach is designed with a specific algorithm that allows it to deal with any errors made by other groups of cockroaches.
Not only that, there are other groups of researchers are working on the new ability of this cyborg cockroach to make it a spy and intelligence unit, thus protecting the house from any ‘enemies’.
The electrical engineering team from North Carolina State University believes that these cyborg cockroaches can be used to conduct field surveys, which in turn will be sent to the disaster zone to track down any trapped (individual) victims.
This effort coincides with the technological design developed on the body of this cyborg cockroach, as it is mounted with a control device on the back of its body.
Not least, the back is also equipped with three microphones that function to detect the direction of the sound to ‘bring it’ to the place of the sound.
It is understood that there are also cyborg cockroach units fitted with a microphone to capture any sound from any direction, where it can be controlled and transmitted wirelessly.
Source: Daily Mail, Digital Nature Group