Swarm of Cyborg Insects May Come to the Rescue

Researchers from North Carolina State University have written software that maps unknown environments with the help of cyborg insects. The developers say the system could be useful for mapping out collapsed buildings, which could have a number of applications including being used during emergency rescues.

Edgar Lobaton, a computer engineering professor and senior author of the paper, said the focus of his team's research was to map areas where there is little to no precise data on the location.

That information is gathered by way of cyborg insects, also refereed to as "biobots," typically cockroaches that have been fitted with remote sensors. The researchers took advantage of the random movements of the unpredictable nature of the cockroaches while writing their software.

"One characteristic of biobots is that their movement can be somewhat random," Lobaton said. "We're exploiting that random movement to work in our favor."

The cyborg roaches' movement can also be electronically controlled, so after their random movements have mapped out some of the area, they can be commanded to move to unmapped locations by essentially following the walls. By repeatedly commanding the biobots to follow walls, and coupling that data with that collected by their random movements and combined with information collected by multiple units, the system can effectively map an area.

Lobaton said the information collected could be given to first responders at the site of a collapsed building, although he did not comment on what anyone trapped inside would think about a swarm of cyborg insects coming to their rescue.

Other potential applications for the biobots could be using them to determine the location of radioactive of chemical threats, which could easily be done if the insects are equipped with the proper sensors.

Lobaton and his colleague Alireza Dirafzoon, a Ph.D. student at NC State, will present their paper "Topological Mapping of Unknown Environments using an Unlocalized Robotic Swarm," at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems next month in Tokyo.