RoboRoach kits which will be available starting November and retail for about $100 USD (insect not included) comprise of a reusable backpack, recording electrodes and a battery. To surgically implant the cockroach with the computer pack, the insect is first dipped in ice water. This helps slow its senses and puts it in a state ofhibernation, which prevents it from feeling any pain. Next, the shell on its head is sanded down slightly to ensure that the super-glue and electrodes stick, and a ground wire is inserted into its thorax to provide a conducting path. Finally, theantennas are trimmed slightly and silver electrodes are inserted inside.
Once everything is in place, the mini-computer (which sits like a backpack on the insect's torso) is connected to a Smartphone via a Bluetooth and used to send out very small pulses that stimulate the mechanoreceptors in the cockroach’s antennae.
However, the roaches cannot be fooled forever. They usually adjust to the pulses within minutes and stop responding for about 20 minutes, after which they forget the stimulus and can be controlled again. But that too lasts only for a few days following which the insect's brain gets fully adjusted to the pulses and no longer responds. At that point the roach is 'retired' and sent scurrying back to its old life and the backpack is transferred to a new specimen.
And for those of you that are wondering if the cockroaches are getting hurt in this process, Greg assures they are not. He says that it is amply evidenced by the fact that the insects seem to be able ignore the pulses within a short period of time, something that would not be possible, if they were in pain.
This is not the first time these ancient insects have been recruited to help humans.Dr. Alper Bozkurt of NC State University has been experimenting with similarlycomputerized Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches since last year, in the hope thatthey will some day help find victims trapped in the rubble following natural disasters like earthquakes!
Around since the time of dinosaurs, cockroaches are one of the oldest known insects to mankind and believe it or not, one of most amazing ones too. While they have a bad reputation of being household pests, only 1% of the 4,500 known species of the insect, actually are. They are hardy little things that have managed to survive through generations by adapting to all kinds of environments and diets. The insects will eat anything ranging from starches to cheese to beer and even flakes of dried skin or decaying organic matter. When times are really tough they feed off wood termites or even worse each other or, not eat anything at all for as long as a month!
Not impressed? How about this - They can stay alive for up to a week even after their heads have been cut off and hold their breath for a whopping 40 minutes at a time. Not only that, they are also amazingly speedy and can scuttle up to 3 miles an hour. So the next time you happen to see one a cockroach, do give it a quicksalute before . . . . Dashing out of the door!
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