Saving lives could soon be the domain of tiny heroes and the clever Aussies who have strapped technology to their backs.
There’s no doubting that first responders are a critical part of emergency efforts, and one area seeing huge growth in technology is in emergency assistance.
In the past few years, we’ve seen satellite SOS built into phones and live-streaming to police, but an idea hailing from Australia goes in a different direction in its aim to assist first responders, as researchers turn to a rather unexpected ally: bugs.
At the University of Queensland, researchers have been working to guide beetles connected to a small technology pack, almost controlling them like a video game.
It’s not quite the same thing, but the beetles Dr Thang Vo-Doan has worked with can be guided using parts of their body, a little like Remy in the Pixar movie Ratatouille.
Instead of directly fitting controls to the top of the beetle’s head, Dr Vo-Doan’s team has created removable electronic backpacks that prompt movement in directions using electrodes stimulating either the antenna or hardened forewings.
“We use electrical pulse trains (or stimuli) to activate target sensory receptors or emulate the insect’s sense of touch,” said Dr Vo-Doan.
“Stimulating the left antenna makes the insect perceive an obstacle on the left and turn right, and vice versa. Stimulating the left elytron (left forewing) causes the beetle to move sideways to the right, and vice versa. Stimulating both elytra (the forewings) makes the beetle move faster.”
Moving beetles remotely using electronics potentially gives first responders in search and rescue a way to find those in need. Beetles can crawl under small spaces, through tiny crevices, and even scale walls humans might struggle with.
“Beetles possess many natural gifts that make them the masters of climbing and manoeuvring in small, complex spaces such as dense rubble, that are difficult for robots to navigate,” said Dr Vo-Doan.
“Our work harnesses these gifts and adds programmable controls that allow for precise directional guidance, without affecting the lifespan of the beetle,” he said.
Interestingly, the beetles don’t have to follow the directions sent by the research team, something Dr Vo-Doan confirmed to Pickr.
This isn’t controlling bugs like robots, but rather guiding them to their destination to assist in search and rescue, and potentially other applications. And when the power runs out, the beetles will go back to their normal behaviour without any human control.
“The beetles have their own will and can choose whether to follow the commands or ignore them,” he said.
“We activate specific sensors, but the beetles ultimately decide which behaviours to perform. However, our experiments show a very high success rate of control, meaning the insects follow the commands most of the time.”
In development for over ten years, the University of Queensland’s Biorobotics Lab kicked off in 2023, and has beetles almost ready to test in the real world.
The goal sees real-life cyborg beetles ready to be tested in the next five years, with the team now working to support more sustainable and efficient power systems, as well as for cameras to be mounted to help the teams directing the beetles.
“If people have been trapped under an extensive amount of rubble, you want to be able to find them as quickly as possible and start planning how to get them out,” said Dr Vo-Doan.
