U.C. Berkeley’s Michael Maharbiz and a team of colleagues recently presented a giant flower beetle whose flight they could command by remote-control. Implanted electrodes and a radio receiver strapped to the beetle’s back give the human operator complete control over the beetles flight pattern, and at 1.3 grams, the apparatus leaves enough payload capability for a surveillance camera.
This striking video illustrates the computer flight commands as they are relayed from the human operator to the computer to the beetle, and makes visible the beetle’s incorporation into the mechanical experimental apparatus.
The team’s paper on the project can be found at the IEEE’s Digital Library. The paper abstract says, “We present an implantable flight control microsystem for a cyborg beetle. The system consists of multiple inserted neural and muscular stimulators, a visual stimulator, a polyimide assembly and a microcontroller. The system is powered by two size 5 cochlear microbatteries. The insect platform is Cotinis texana, a 2 cm long, 1-2 gram Green June Beetle. We also provide data on the implantation of silicon neural probes, silicon chips, microfluidic tubes, and LED’s introduced during the pupal stage of the beetle.”
It seems simple enough, so when will parents be able to buy these beetles as birthday presents for their children?
