Now control cyborg cockroaches with a smartphoneMumbai, Nov 24(AZINS) While we may normally think of cockroaches as icky pests thriving on human waste, these insects can operate like any small-scale robots that exist today. A Kickstarter-funded biohacking experiment called Roboroach has introduced a US $99 kit that lets you perform a surgery on a live cockroach to turn it into a cybernetic pet. Although biohacking is still a relatively new science, you can get some hands-on experience with Roboroach.

Cockroach antennae enable them to sense and alert them about their surroundings. Upon contact with any physical object, an antenna sends a message as an electrical signal to the roach’s brain, which helps the insect adjust course to avoid any danger.
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The surgical procedure used by Roboroach involves mounting a Bluetooth-powered three-lead system on the back of the cockroach which connects its two antennas. This is performed while the roach is put to sleep after a quick ice water bath that freezes its nervous system. Once this is done, you can use your smartphone to control its movements.

The chip helps you create a pseudo-stimuli that can direct the bug’s movement. The system is connected to a "backpack" that acts as an extension of the roach’s brain. Check out the video below to see how the system works.
The effect lasts only for a short time, as neuroplasticity kicks in and the roach starts to ignore (or forget) the signal received from the external kit. Once you are done with the experiment, you can unmount the system, leave the leads, and the cockroach can return to its natural habitat completely unaffected by the ordeal.

However, this experiment has raised many raise ethical questions. Controlling and operating a roach’s normal movements for fun and entertainment is not completely justifiable. Also, there is always the possibility that you might kill the roach during surgery.
Inorder to address some of these concerns, Roboroach manufacturer Backyard Brains said, “We make sure to anesthetize all our animals when we do experiments, and we explain this to students. We actually don’t know if insects feel pain, but we do make the assumption that they do, which is why we anesthetize them in the first place. All we know is that the wound heals, the cockroaches are walking around within hours, eating lettuce, making more cockroaches and, if they are juvenile, the leg grows back.”

Another major innovation that grabbed eyeballs today was the creation of cyborg cockroach by a Chinese student that he can control with his “thoughts” for science. Here too, the cockroach is fitted with an electronic 'backpack' controlled by an electroencephalography (EEG) headset to stimulate its antennae. Brainwaves read by it are used to direct the cockroach in a certain direction. Inventors believe that this can be used for reconnaissance missions to gather hydrographic or geographic information.