"The defense ministry has announced that it's funding research and development at SWARM Biotactics to create technology that can "steer cockroaches and send them on reconnaissance missions," CBS News reported. CEO Stefan Wilhelm said the cockroaches are "super resilient" and can crawl through "tiny spaces," climb up walls, go into pipes, and navigate through rubble. How does this work? Neuroscientists at the company put electrodes on the critters' antennae to "stimulate the insects' natural ability to navigate.""
"They wear little backpacks carrying batteries and chips, with the bugs controlled through a game-style joystick. The researchers claim the cockroaches are not hurt by any of this. Games like Call of Duty and others have gameplay systems that allow people to pilot reconnaissance drones to gather intelligence on the battlefield, but not by way of a cockroach--at least not yet."
"One day, the hope is that the bugs can carry cameras and microphones onto the battlefield, or Doppler radar, the researchers said. Germany's defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said the country is beefing up its military defenses because otherwise, "there might be people like Vladimir Putin who will take that kind of living away from us." Using cockroaches in this manner is nothing very new, as researchers from the US were conducting similar cyborg cockroach tests more than a decade ago."
Germany's defense ministry is funding SWARM Biotactics to develop technology that steers Madagascar hissing cockroaches for reconnaissance. The insects are fitted with electrodes on their antennae and wearable backpacks containing batteries and chips. Researchers control the bugs with a joystick that stimulates natural navigation, claiming the animals are not harmed. The cockroaches' resilience and ability to traverse tiny spaces, pipes, rubble, and walls make them suitable for close-quarters intelligence tasks. Future payloads could include cameras, microphones, or Doppler radar. Similar cyborg cockroach experiments were conducted in the US more than a decade ago.
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