Robotized cockroach appeared in MAI

Students of Moscow Aviation Institute are developing a cyborg cockroach capable of carrying out the video record of hard-to-reach places. The robotic insect will be controlled by electrical impulses. The work is carried out on the basis of the student design bureau "Signal".

The nerve endings of cockroaches are located very close to their shells. Keeping this peculiarity in mind, the students placed two electrodes on the insect's shell, and attached them to a miniature control neurostimulator. The device receives signals via bluetooth and transmits electrical impulses to electrodes that influence the insect's nervous system, controlling its movements. If the operator attaches a micro-camera to a cockroach, he can see what a human cameraman cannot record.

– The size of the neurostimulator will be no more than 2 by 3 centimeters, its weight will be about 15-20 grams. The device is designed for the Madagascar cockroach. By sending a signal, the operator is able to direct the insect to the right or to the left. We also plan to add the start and stop commands. In the future, we will not only send, but also receive response signals and analyze them, - comments Maria Zolotenkova, project manager, graduate student of the Institute No. 4 “Radioelectronics, Infocommunications and Information Security”.

The project will help to study the biology of the nervous activity of cockroaches better, and the results of the experiment will be useful to companies that need to make video records in hard-to-reach places, for example, to check pipelines or in archaeological research.