A project currently on Kickstarter would give
supporters the tools to remote-control a cockroach using their smartphones.
Called RoboRoach, the project is billed as
"the world's first commercially available cyborg" and comes from a
group of educational researchers called Backyard Brains from Ann Arbor, Mich.
RoboRoach has three components: a cockroach with
surgically implanted electrical stimulators, a cockroach-size
"backpack" that transmits these signals to a smartphone and an app
that allows users to send the cockroach directional commands.
The controls build off of the cockroach's existing
biology: Cockroaches navigate by feeling their surroundings with their long
antennae. When the antennae touch something, the neurons within them send an
electrical impulse to the cockroach's brain, letting the roach know that
there's an obstacle in its way.
The RoboRoach takes advantage of this natural
mechanism to control the cockroach's direction. First, the researchers
surgically implant an electrical stimulator into the cockroach's antennae, a
process which involves removing one of the cockroach's six legs.
Then, once the cockroach has recovered, they
place a small "backpack" on the cockroach's back that connects these
stimulators with a control interface — in this case, a smartphone app.
Once it's all set up, users can direct the cockroach's
movements by opening the app and dragging their thumb left or right across the
screen. The cockroach will then move in the indicated direction.
Touching the screen sends an electrical stimulus
through the cockroach's antennae, which makes it think it's encountered an
obstacle.
It's a technique similar to the deep brain
stimulation currently used to treat Parkinson's
disease, or treatments for deafness such as cochlear
implants.
Neither the surgery nor the actual process hurt
the cockroaches, Backyard Brains says. The cockroaches are anesthetized before
the surgery, and there's no evidence of a pain or a fear response when the
cockroaches' antennae are electrically stimulated. Younger cockroaches
will also regrow the missing leg.
In fact, the frequency is so mild that after a
few minutes the cockroach will stop responding to it. Users will have to
readjust the frequency of their stimulation signals from the app, which
Backyard Brains says is another opportunity for users to conduct their own
neurological experiments.
RoboRoach has been under development for three
years and gone through 11 iterations. The project's developers say it's more
than just a neat trick — it's a learning tool, designed to teach neuroscience
principles to people at a young age.
"We want to create neural interfaces that
the general public can use. … If we can allow this technology to get into the
hands of younger people, we can begin the neuro revolution," they say on
the Kickstarter site.
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