Robotised insects may search collapsed buildings for survivors

WHY GO TO all the trouble of designing and building a drone if nature has already done most of the job for you? That is the attitude taken by the small but determined band of researchers who are trying to robotise insects. Some are working on turning flying critters like beetles into such cyborgs—perhaps for use in military reconnaissance or espionage. Others prefer to concentrate on the creepy-crawly side of entomology, by taking electronic control of cockroaches.The first cyber-roach goes back to 1997, when Shimoyama Isao of Tokyo University sent electrical signals to a cockroach’s antennae, causing it to turn either left or right depending on which antenna was stimulated. Others have built on this approach by recruiting , such as the rear-facing cerci. They have also begun fitting the insects with instrument packs that might let them do a useful job: for survivors.