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Renewable Energy News

WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER, 2009 |

Solar Powered Cyborg Spy Beetle

by Energy Matters

Cyborg beetles and solar power
Look at that fly on the wall.

It seems to be watching you; rubbing its front legs together with glee as it records your every move on a miniature camera hooked into its eyes that transmits a live feed to THEM.

You know THEM. THEY are everywhere.

Nah, that's crazy right? Well, isn't it? Hang on; what's that reflection on its back? Is it a solar panel?

This may seem like the stuff of pure paranoia, but it could become reality soon - and actually, the technology has already been demonstrated

The development of micro air vehicles (MAV’s) is now seeing the use of insects due to their as-yet unmatched flight capabilities and increasingly well understood muscular and nervous systems.

A research team at the University of California, Berkeley; led by Hirotaka Sato and Michel Maharbiz, have created implantable bio-interfaces to remotely electrically stimulate the nervous and muscular systems of an insect, effectively hijacking its flight control system. Their first subject has been a 'cyborg beetle'.

Using three different sized beetles, the researchers have been able navigate insects into tiny spots while larger subjects have carried heavier extra instruments such as a miniature camera. The neural stimulator consists of a micro-controller and a micro-battery, mounted on dorsal thorax of the beetles. The microcontroller was connected with wire electrodes inserted into left and right optic lobes. The team has successfully executed flight initiation, cessation, elevation and turn control.

One of the remaining challenges for the team is the issue of power. Batteries, solar cells and piezo electrics that harvest energy from movement cannot provide enough power to run electrodes and radio transmitters for very long... yet.

Read more about cyborg beetles.