Beetle Borgs

Posted by Miss Cellania in Science & Tech on April 30, 2009 at 10:42 pm


Engineers at the University of California at Berkeley have developed remote-control beetles that can be used as spies! They aren’t just robots, either. These are cyborgs, real beetles that have implanted electrodes that control their flight muscles.

With the mind of a machine and the nimble body of an insect, this bug-bot may be the perfect scout: inexpensive, expendable, and capable of surreptitious reconnaissance. The Berkeley researchers, led by Michael Maharbiz, note that beetles are strong enough to carry useful payloads, such as a miniature camera.

Link -via Digg

(image credit: Hirotaka Sato and Michel M. Maharbiz, U. C. Berkeley)


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10 comments to "Beetle Borgs"

  1. nickolas_warner
    May 1st, 2009 at 12:01 am

    that is awesome. I just threw a pesky beetle outside.

  2. Johnny Cat
    May 1st, 2009 at 12:35 am

    I've heard of these little spies before. They have no rights when they retire, and when they die, their families are told lies, they are dispensable heroes.

  3. phisher131
    May 1st, 2009 at 2:16 am

    How would you feel if someone else controlled your body?

  4. GQ
    May 1st, 2009 at 3:36 am

    Heh, reminds me of the cockroach camera spy in The Fifth Element.

  5. Foreigner1
    May 1st, 2009 at 5:56 am

    More than often I've wondered if houseflies -especially when they are big- and other flying insects that surround us, could be used by aliens to spie on us- You don't need UFO's and fancy potentially visible flying stuff- Just tap in to the already abundant flying insaectworld and you get to know every nook and cranny of our worldly existance...

    So now humans are starting to dso the same with the ultimate critter-cam. Hm, high time to buy myself the best and ultimate fly-swatter there is, or to invent one myself...

  6. dalucero
    May 1st, 2009 at 9:52 am

    GQ, totally what I was thinking.

  7. neko
    May 1st, 2009 at 10:11 am

    i've been giggling about the title ever since i saw it in the magazine.

    beetle borgs was the best power rangers ripoff ever.

  8. Bryn
    May 1st, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    This is really cool, but it also seems kinda wrong...

  9. Kalel
    May 1st, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    I, for one, welcome our new Beetle overlords.

  10. Ali S.
    May 1st, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    Hah! I have countered this threat with a simple solution. A nice can of Raid!


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