A robotic arm that can automatically turn cockroaches into controllable cyborgs could be used to create swarms of biological robots for search missions. Hirotaka Sato at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and his colleagues have previously shown that groups of up to 20 Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) equipped with electronic backpacks can be steered across desert-like terrain. However, to be used in a real-world search-and-rescue mission, the team calculates that hundreds or thousands of cyborg insects would be needed.

This study focuses on improving the ability of cyborg insects to navigate autonomously during search and rescue missions in outdoor environments. We propose an algorithm that leverages data from an IMU to calculate orientation and position based on the insect's walking gait. These computed factors serve as essential feedback channels across 3 phases of our exploration. Our method functions without relying on external systems. The results of our trials, carried out in both indoor (4.8 x 6.6 m^2) and outdoor (3.5 x 6.0 m^2) settings, show that the cyborg insect is capable of seeking a human without knowing the human's position. This exploration strategy would help to bring terrestrial cyborg insects closer to practical application in real-life search and rescue (SAR) missions.

Have you ever wondered why some insects like cockroaches prefer to stay or decrease movement in darkness? Some may tell you it's called photophobia, a habit deeply coded in their genes. A further question would be whether we can correct this habit of cockroaches, that is, moving in the darkness just as they move in bright backgrounds. Scientists from Osaka University may have answered this question by converting a cockroach into a cyborg. They published their research in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems.

Many applications require robots to move through complex 3-D terrain with large obstacles, such as self-driving, search and rescue, and extraterrestrial exploration. Although robots are already excellent at avoiding sparse obstacles, they still struggle in traversing cluttered large obstacles. To make progress, we need to better understand how to use and control the physical interaction with obstacles to traverse them. Forest floor-dwelling cockroaches can use physical interaction to transition between different locomotor modes to traverse flexible, grass-like beams of a large range of stiffness. Inspired by this, here we studied whether and how environmental force sensing helps robots make active adjustments to traverse cluttered large obstacles. We developed a physics model and a simulation of a minimalistic robot capable of sensing environmental forces during traversal of beam obstacles. Then, we developed a force-feedback control strategy, which estimated beam stiffness from the sensed contact force using the physics model. Then in simulation we used the estimated stiffness to control the robot to either stay in or transition to the more favorable locomotor modes to traverse. When beams were stiff, force sensing induced the robot to transition from a more costly pitch mode to a less costly roll mode, which helped the robot traverse with a higher success rate and less energy consumed. By contrast, if the robot simply pushed forward or always avoided obstacles, it would consume more energy, become stuck in front of beams, or even flip over. When the beams were flimsy, force sensing guided the robot to simply push across the beams. In addition, we demonstrated the robustness of beam stiffness estimation against body oscillations, randomness in oscillation, and uncertainty in position sensing. We also found that a shorter sensorimotor delay reduced energy cost of traversal.

A dish of living brain cells has learned to play the 1970s arcade game Pong. About 800,000 cells linked to a computer gradually learned to sense the position of the game's electronic ball and control a virtual paddle, a team reports in the journal Neuron. The novel achievement is part of an effort to understand how the brain learns, and how to make computers more intelligent. "We've made huge strides with silicon computing, but they're still rigid and inflexible," says Brett Kagan, an author of the study and chief scientific officer at Cortical Labs in Melbourne, Australia. "That's something we don't see with biology." For example, both computers and people can learn to make a cup of tea, Kagan says.

A new study found that all of these kinds of motion are well represented by a single mathematical model. "This didn't come out of nowhere -- this is from our real robot data," said Dan Zhao, first author of the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and a recent Ph.D. graduate in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. "Even when the robot looks like it's sliding, like its feet are slipping, its velocity is still proportional to how quickly it's moving its body." Unlike the dynamic motion of gliding birds and sharks and galloping horses -- where speed is driven, at least in part, by momentum -- every bit of speed for ants, centipedes, snakes and swimming microbes is driven by changing the shape of the body. This is known as kinematic motion.

On a beautiful day in May 2015, I drove the 13 hours from my home in Portland, Oregon, to Harris Ranch, California, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. At the time, Tesla was touting a battery-swap station that could send Tesla drivers on their way in a fully powered vehicle in less than the time it takes to fill up a car with gas. Overtaken by curiosity, I had decided to spend a long Memorial Day weekend in California's Central Valley to see if Elon Musk's latest bit of dream weaving could stand up to reality. There, amid the pervasive stench of cow droppings from a nearby feedlot, I discovered that Tesla's battery swap station was not in fact being made available to owners who regularly drove between California's two largest cities. Instead, the company was running diesel generators to power additional Superchargers (the kind that take 30 to 60 minutes to recharge a battery) to handle the holiday rush, their exhaust mingling with the unmistakable smell of bullshit.

Scientists have demonstrated how a live cockroach equipped with a computerised'backpack' could be steered remotely for search and rescue missions. The backpack, created by a team at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, is a small computer chip fitted with an infrared camera, carbon dioxide sensor and a temperature/humidity sensor, among other functions. In lab trials, the team fitted the backpack to a Madagascar hissing cockroach and successfully used it to find humans in a simulated disaster scene. The cockroach fitted with the backpack also had electrodes implanted in its cerci – the protruding appendages on its left and right side. Electrical currents were delivered to the two cerci via the electrodes to induce turning, allowing the scientists to control the direction it moved in.

Japanese researchers envision a future where swarms of cyborg cockroaches roam freely inside homes, carrying out a variety of small tasks. A team at the University of Tsukuba modified Madagascar cockroaches with cybernetic implants that navigate the insects up walls and across floors – places other robots have difficult accessing. Called'Calmbots,' the cockroaches were installed with electrodes, a chip antenna, battery and a pixel strapped to its back that can be used as a display. Researchers say the cyborgs can transport objects around the home, drawing things on paper and may one day act as an'input or haptic interfaces or an audio device. Calmbots are a project of Digital Nature Group, a department at the university, which aims to release their creations into people's homes.

Whenever we hear the words ''innovation'' or ''creativity'', we tend to typically think of technology, R&D labs, cutting-edge corporations, and prestigious academic institutions. Despite the ingenuity and engineering ability humans have demonstrated over the past millennia, time and again, we fall short of ''creativity'' when compared to mother nature. The examples of how insights from nature can improve, inspire and innovate technology are endless. One of the ambitious project Artificial Photosynthesis happened in 2016, when an artificial leaf split water into hydrogen and oxygen, combined with a modified bacteria, converted hydrogen into liquid fuel ten times as efficiently as plants. Out of the hundreds of such nature inspired innovations, we thought it would be interesting to round up a few awe-inspiring examples.