Researchers Develop Remote-Controlled Cyber-Roaches

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a series of remote-controlled cyber-roaches that could aid in future disaster relief efforts. The cockroaches are strapped to circuit boards and microphones, which they carry around. The circuits control the movements of each roach, and the microphone is capable of detecting environmental sounds and their sources. "In a collapsed building, sound is the best way to find survivors," said Dr. Alper Bozkurt, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University and senior author of two papers on the work."

There is a program on my bug.

[AchilleTalon]

There is a program on my bug.

Re:

[ColdWetDog]

Been there. Done that. [youtube.com]

Re:

[jones_supa]

Well played.

Re:

[lgw]

I'd be more worried about a shoe [youtu.be] on my bug. (C'mon, no Fifth Element reference in TFS, samzenpus? /. has slid far downhill.)

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[mbstone]

Annoyingly enough it is this shoe [slashdot.org].

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

That's what happens when someone mischievously drops a punch card into your beetle collection.

Just what we need...

[canadiannomad]

I have enough problems with those damned creatures as is! /jk

Re:

[canadiannomad]

That said, if I'm trapped under a building, and not knowing they had microphones and transponders.. I'm not sure how comforted I'd be to hear an army of cockroaches approaching. Talk about creepy sounds in the dark.

Re:

[denzacar]

The only good bug is a dead bug. [youtube.com]

Seriously.
Those tele-roaches better be cheap. Any of them come next to me and they'll get crushed.
Possibly at the expense of human lives around me.

Also, if the building was sprayed recently, wouldn't that kill off the roaches sent in?

Your assumptions are many and contradictory.

[denzacar]

Collapsed buildings containing trapped human victims are most likely to occur in underdeveloped nations

Assumption one.
Buildings NEVER crash in developed nations or people there simply don't ever get trapped in such situations?

underdeveloped nations which lack building codes or construction techniques to resist earthquakes

Assumption two.
"Third world" is a place on a map. Probably somewhere in Africa. Which is a country of poor people. Hungry people. Stupid people. Cruel people.
People who lack architectural and other knowledge as well as any care for human lives or quality thereof.
They don't know of building codes cause they are simply not civilized enough.
Or they can't afford to use them cause they are

Re:

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

If it makes you feel any better, odds are pretty decent that the first remote-controlled cybernetic insects to actually hit the field will be military. The fact that they'll be hunter-seekers or looking for targets to sink their autoinjector mandibles into won't improve your situation; but it will make your fear and loathing a great deal more justified!

Borrowed from Fifth Element

[TigerPlish]

There was a roach bug in that film. Complete with electronics backpack and ridiculous but hilarious dish antenna.

Old news..

[yossie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrHMBletjXg

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure the cheetos research you've been doing in your parent's basement is more interesting

CIA has been useing this for year and just now

[Joe_Dragon]

CIA has been useing this for year and just now they found some thing better so they let this come out.

Make your own...

[CODiNE]

From almost exactly a year ago...

http://science.slashdot.org/st... [slashdot.org]

Re:

[unrtst]

From almost exactly a year ago...

http://science.slashdot.org/st... [slashdot.org]

Or more than two years ago: http://science.slashdot.org/su... [slashdot.org] ... and this link is for a story that is also from "Researches from North Carolina State University".

Prediction...

[zamboni1138]

Once again, predicted by Sci-Fi [gawkerassets.com].

I for one welcome our cyberroach overlords

[Eravnrekaree]

I for one welcome our new cyber-roach overlords.

there's an app for that

[BradMajors]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci... [dailymail.co.uk]

Yesterday's Science Fiction, Today's Fact

[handy_vandal]

I am reminded of a passage from Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light (1967):

He did not move his head, but reached out to crush a beetle that stood near his hand. The tip of a small crystal and two tiny wires protruded through the broken chitin of its back.

An excellent novel, one of my favorites.

Sadly, the Avon edition that I used to own was the absolute worst example of typographical errors I have ever seen: at least a dozen cases of misplaced or duplicated lines. Bad enough that I could no longer enjoy re-readi

Re:

[tomhath]

I'm reminded more of the Get Smart scene where a fly is buzzing around and Max smashes it with a newspaper. The scientist starts crying "I spent years of my life building that robot fly" and runs out of the lab.

You can do this yourself

[umafuckit]

Check out the backyardbrains [backyardbrains.com] website. They provide materials for doing this sort of thing at home as part of an educational kit. I'm not affiliated with them in any way.

Is this the singularity?

[Art3x]

I'm so glad technology has come to the point where I can stop reading science fiction novels for entertainment and just pick up a newspaper.

...Later

[ennerseed]

A researcher from NorthCarolina State University, Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, goes on to create an capitalist empire from his many court settlements. Apparently he found roaches in his meals at many restaurants.

Very old news...

[thirdender]

This is a very old news item. I remember reading about this several years ago. There are even how-to instructions [popsci.com] published in 2012.