DARPA harvests energy from cyborg beetles to keep them brainwashed

[Malevolence 6]

DARPA harvests energy from cyborg beetles to keep them brainwashed

By Daniel Cooper posted Sep 1st 2011 7:43PM

Beetles packing cybernetic implants that control their brains make a cheaper and more useful micro-air-vehicle than a fully robotic one -- but due to the weight of the battery packs required, development has been slow. Now a DARPA-funded team at the University of Michigan thinks it's eliminated that problem. By attaching piezoelectric generators to each wing, the researchers can harvest the energy generated in flight and use it to juice the mind-control circuits. At present, the system generates about half the energy the team thinks it can produce, as innovations in ceramic production of the miniature devices should solve that. An experimental robotics project in competition with a cyborg one? This all feels a bit too RoboCop for us.

Physorg

source Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering

 

http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/01/darpa-h...them-brainwash/

 

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Fascinating stuff, don't you think? Cyborg insects! It's like science fiction in real life.

[Luk3us 63]

Cybernetic implants to control the brain.... Well, that obviously couldn't be used for ill in any way, shape or form.

 

The future is scary.

[Guest Stevie_K]

No I think it's fascinating. "I am a cybernetic organism..." - Terminator , lol

[Nmenth 291]

I think "mind control" is misleading. I haven't looked into this particular experiment much, but if it works as I expect it does, it is more like nerve control. While logically nerves and the mind are not so far apart, realistically, they are so far apart, the Hubble wouldn't be able to see across the gap.

 

It is amusing that as sci-fi as this seems, scientists aren't the first ones to manipulate insects.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

What is science up to?