"PITY future cyborg insects. As if being remotely controlled by a human isn't bad enough, their every movement may be harnessed to power the electronics that hijack their bodies. This could also extend the length of their enslavement, since the microchips had previously relied on tiny batteries with short lifespans.
Engineers have been attempting to gain control of insects' bodies for some time, to act as discreet spies or to take advantage of their advanced sense of smell to detect chemicals or explosives.
To do this, researchers implant electrical stimulators that zap certain nerves or brain cells, triggering an impulse that makes the insect move in a desired direction. This process can be controlled by a preprogrammed chip or by remote control (NewScientist, 6 March 2008, p 40)." Read the rest.
Add a GPS, some RFID and/or 3G technology and a video camera on the thing and multiply it to a few hundred tiny cyborgs using crowd intelligence and we'll have one efficient spy machine similar to the spider robot of Minority Report but half organic. If the cockroaches get really smart we might have one interesting YouTube channel.
Read also Digitoday discussing the article (in Finnish). 1st pic orig. from Foureyesjokeshop.com, appearing in James Sherwood's article Nintendo Wii said to 'attract cockroaches' in Register Hardware news. 2nd pic from BotJunkie (screen capture from the movie Minority Report).
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