Beetles equipped with microchip backpacks could one day help locate survivors after a disaster, according to researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia.
Insect-scale robots are small enough to navigate through rubble and collapsed structures to find survivors. However, they find it challenging to transition from navigating horizontal surfaces to scuttling up walls and climbing over obstacles.
To overcome this challenge, researchers in Queensland fitted small robot platforms onto the backs of darkling beetles (Zophobas morio).
The natural movements of these cyborg insects, or insect-machine hybrid robots, are prompted in specific directions through electrodes that stimulate their antennae or hardened forewings known as elytrons.
Dr Thang Vo-Doan, lecturer at the school of mechanical and mining engineering at the university, said: “Beetles possess many natural gifts that make them the masters of climbing and manoeuvring in small, complex spaces such as dense rubble that are...