Singapore team turning cockroaches into life-saving cyborg bugs at disaster sites

[ASEAN NOW News]

The cockroaches can distinguish between human and non-human subjects with 87 per cent accuracy.ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN

 

SINGAPORE - Cockroaches are known to infiltrate homes through the tiniest of gaps, and this innate ability now has engineers in Singapore working to turn the pesky insect into an ally of rescuers at disaster sites.

 

According to a report by the Straits Times, one variety of the insect has the team at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) excited - the Madagascar hissing cockroach.

 

On average, an adult is 6cm long, 2cm longer than the local variety.

 

The species is large enough for Associate Professor Hirotaka Sato and his team at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering to equip the bug with a 5.5g "backpack" consisting of several sensors, including those that can warn of the presence of gases such as carbon dioxide.

 

The cyborg bugs also carry a small infrared camera that can detect life by picking up temperature signatures. The idea is to release a team of them at a disaster site.

 

Prof Sato's research, which started four years ago, is being conducted in partnership with Singapore's Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) and engineering firm Klass Engineering and Solutions.

 

Using a human detection algorithm, the team found that its cockroaches, or cyborg bugs, can distinguish between human and non-human subjects with 87 per cent accuracy.

 

The team estimates that five hundred such cockroaches are needed in a search-and-rescue area of five sq km.

 

"Singapore was the first country to dispatch their rescue team to Japan when the big earthquake hit (north-east Japan) on March 11, 2011," Prof Sato, who is from Japan, told The Straits Times, in November.

 

"I was awarded Nanyang Assistant Professorship in the same year and with the support from NTU, I started my cyborg robot research."

 

"Since then, I have been seriously motivated to use my technology to contribute to Singapore's rescue missions."

 

Prof Sato, who is currently the Provost's Chair in NTU, has been with the university for 10 years, working in the areas of mechanical engineering, nano, and micro manufacturing, as well as electrochemistry.

 

Mr Ong Ka Hing, deputy director of HTX's Robotics, Automation and Unmanned Systems Centre of Expertise, said search-and-rescue teams must work in demanding situations in a race against time to seek out survivors.

 

State-of-the-art miniature robots are also unable to last long enough for rescue operations due to high power consumption for movement, Mr Ong said.

 

"Deploying a team of insect-hybrid robots (or cyborgs) that can navigate small and tight spaces that may be dangerous and inaccessible to humans will protect our front-line responders and improve the agility and efficiency of Home Team operations," he added.

 

Dog robot

 

Currently, HTX is also developing and refining Rover-X, which looks like a dog, to function as first responders to support the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in such disaster rescue efforts.

 

Madagascar hissing cockroaches are hardy creatures that can withstand ten times more radiation than humans, and live up to seven days without their heads, as they are able to breathe through the spiracles on their sides.

 

Between 100 and 200 of these live cockroaches are housed in containers in a laboratory room in NTU's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

 

Between 100 and 200 of these live cockroaches are housed in containers in a laboratory room in NTU's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN

 

The humidity and temperature in the containers are tailored to mimic their natural habitat. These cockroaches were imported and take about four months to grow to adult size.

 

In the latest prototype, the team first anaesthetises the insect with carbon dioxide.

 

Wax on the back of the cockroach is then carefully scraped off. Two electrodes and a microchip are then attached to its back. 

 

Several minutes later, the cockroach regains consciousness and starts scurrying around.

 

Electrodes are inserted and then attached to the cockroach's back or cerci. ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN

 

A microcomputer in the cyborg's backpack outputs electrical signals to the neuromuscular sites of the insect to direct its movement.

 

The research is in its developmental stages, with engineers working to optimise the chip and sensors.

 

In the pipeline is the mass manufacturing and fitting of these chips on the cockroaches.

 

Prof Sato said the entire manufacturing process of the cyborgs should ideally be automated and error-free.

 

He also hopes to incorporate the use of solar cells and biofuel cells to charge the battery, to extend the backpack's operation time.

 

Said Mr Cheng Wee Kiang, director of HTX’s Robotics, Automation and Unmanned Systems Centre of Expertise: "We hope to be able to deploy these cyborg insects in the field within the next five years."

 

It all seems very bizarre, as if they were preparing for a sci fi movie, however hopefully these pests could save lifes!

 

 

[tonray]

I'd still spray the ones with the chips on their back...