Scientists at the Beijing Institute of Technology have built a device that can control the brains of bees, directing their flight patterns in ways that could have many practical applications.
The device – which hosts numerous chips including an infrared remote, though weighs just 74 milligrams – is strapped to a bee’s back and penetrates its brain with three needles, the South China Morning Post reports. These needles use electronic pulses to tell the insect which direction it should fly. The instructions are obeyed nine out of 10 times in experiments, according to a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, published 11 June.
Bees so equipped could be deployed as military scouts or to search for survivors after natural disasters like earthquakes or floods, professor Zhao Jieliang, the project’s leader, proposed. “Insect-based robots inherit the superior mobility, camouflage capabilities and environmental adaptability of their biological hosts,” he and his team wrote in the paper.
[See more: Beijing is investing millions in an AI ecosystem built entirely with Chinese technology]
“Compared to synthetic alternatives, they demonstrate enhanced stealth and extended operational endurance, making them invaluable for covert reconnaissance in scenarios such as urban combat, counterterrorism and narcotics interdiction, as well as critical disaster relief operations.”
Zhao’s team noted that they planned to improve how precisely and consistently they could control insect behaviour in future studies. They said that adding more features to the insect’s control backpack could help the insects better sense their surroundings, making them more adept at challenging tasks.
Previously, the world’s lightest insect cyborg surveillance system involved beetles and roaches, which crawl at relatively slow speeds compared with a flying bee. Those devices, developed in Singapore, were triple the weight of those made at the Beijing Institute of Technology.
