What Would You Do with a Cyborg Beetle?

The cyborg beetle's creator Michel Maharbiz hopes his biological machines will someday be used to carry sensors and other devices to locations and points not easily accessible to humans, such as in search and rescue missions. Maharbiz, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley, specialty is designing interfaces between machines and living systems. He has created a giant cyborg flower beetle which he can remotely control to fly, go left or right, and land on command.

The cyborg beetle is equipped with an off the shelf microprocessor, implanted electrodes that deliver electrical jolts to the beetles brain and wing muscles, a radio receiver, a thin antenna to pick up signals from the transmitter, a battery, and a circuit board. These are mounted to the cyborg beetles back with bee's wax. Maharbiz's research team has modified some beetles during their pupal stage, so their cyborg implants become invisible in adulthood, which is an important feature for use in covert missions.

Microelectromechnacial systems (MEMS) are not the first interface between machines and living system ever created. It has been possible to remotely control the movements of rats and other small animals' for years. But insects are much smaller, thus more challenging. Maharbiz's knowledge of both biology and engineering is one of only a few scientist in the world who have successfully mesh an insect nervous system with MEMS technology and controlled the created cyborg remotely.

The machine portion of the cyborg beetle consist of materials that cost less that five dollars, are easy to assemble, and are available as over the counter, off the shelf electronic components. These components create input and output mechanisms which efficiently communicate with the insect's nervous system. Sending signals to the input and output mechanisms is how the cyborg beetle is controlled remotely. This enables them to fly into tiny cracks and if equipped with a heat sensor locate survivors in search and rescue environments. You can not do that with completely synthetic systems, according to Maharbitz.

The technology driving Maharbiz's cyborg beetles is microelectromechnacial systems (MEMS). MEMS are tiny mechanical devices that can be assembled to create micro miniature radio controllers and microcontrollers. These microelectromechanical systems processes combined with advancements in microfabrication techniques and the availability of incredibly small power sources control the cyborg infrastructure, making biological machines possible. Because of Dr. Maharbiz's novel interface between machines and living systems, there is no doubt that a rise in a new generation of cyborg devices is about to develop.

Resource: Biological Machines - Technology Review - March/April 2009