Cyborg Insects Proposed by @NCState University to Map Areas After Disasters
I always appreciate a good bug-bot story, and while I’m totally okay with one or even a few cyborg insects, the notion of a ‘swarm‘ definitely makes me cringe just a bit! But if it’s all for the good of humanity and mapping an area after a disaster like an earthquake or an otherwise inaccessible area, I’m all for it.
These “biobots” developed by a research team at North Carolina State University could map out areas or collapsed buildings in the wake of a disaster.
Edgar Lobaton and Alper Bozkurt’s project equips cockroaches with sensors and takes advantages of their frenetic natural movement to map out hard-to-reach areas.
They propose deploying the robotic insects by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which would transport a swarm of them to the necessary location.
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