Cyborg cockroaches can hear you call and scurry to the rescue

Researchers at North Carolina State University have figured out how to make cyborg cockroaches – or biobots, as they call them – pick up sound and seek out its source. So one day, the first responders to a rubble-filled disaster scene might be rescue roaches.

Cyborg cockroaches aren’t new: They came on the scene a few years ago, with DIY enthusiasts jumping to create their own remote-controlled bugs. It’s not all that difficult to perform the necessary surgery and hook a roach up to a computerized backpack.

But while some people find it fun to steer a cockroach around, the obvious application is in search-and-rescue: Cockroaches are tiny and resilient, perfect for getting through the nooks and crannies of a disaster zone. If rescue workers can control them and have them carry mics and cameras, they can be used to track down survivors.

This work, published in IEEE Sensors, is a great step in that direction. The researchers equipped their latest biobots with an array of microphones, which together can detect the direction of a sound and steer the biobot toward it.

Right now, the microphones pick up any sound at all – whether or not it’s important. The next step is teaching the system to pick out important noises, like human voices. There’s a long way to go, but rescue roaches are certainly on the horizon. Maybe one day we'll associate the bugs with hope instead of dirty bathrooms.