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Radio-Controlled Cyborg Beetles Become Reality
holy_calamity writes "DARPA's plans to create brain chips for insects so they can be steered like an RC plane are bearing fruit. Videos show that a team at Berkeley can use radio signals to tell palm-sized African beetles to take off and land, and to lose altitude and steer left or right when in flight. They had to use the less-than-inconspicuous giant beetles because other species are too weak to take off with the weight of the necessary antenna and brain and muscle electrodes."
welcome our new remote control beetle overlords!
"They had to use the less-than-inconspicuous giant beetles because other species are too weak to take off with the weight of the necessary antenna and brain and muscle electrodes."
So, as technology advances: smaller electronics, radio parts, electromechanical components, power source -> smaller state-of-the-art RC toy. How long until you can have your own, remote-controlled army of fruit flies? 5 years? 10? 20?
Large? For Beetles.
Benevolent? Probably not.
Cyborg? Check.
I suggest we call these the Big Bad Beetleborgs.
... so I put a, oh fuck it.
At last we can breathe a little easier, secure in the knowledge that flying cockroaches are watching over us at all times.
If you can't monitor what they're doing without being in the same room, then the range is very small. On the other hand, if this could be scaled up to larger animals, perhaps the power would cease to be an issue. However, it does seem like the relative lack of sophistication present in these insects is what allows this control, in part.
Still, if they can get the surveillance issue figured out, this could represent a significant advance is Search and Rescue -- use insects or small animals to access places that humans can't (collapsed buildings, landslides, etc.)
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
What is Sig?
If this project will turn out better than "Acoustic Kitty" did...
We've always wanted to be a fly on the wall; but having your secret spy weapon get eaten by an insectivorous plant would be pretty embarrassing.
This is right out of The Fifth Element. Excellent!
OSX pwns.
Maybe these things will be moving by themselves soon...
The video was posted on March 07, 2008.
Palm as in palm of your hand, here I was thinking palm tree. That would certainly be "less-than-inconspicuous"!
beetles really creep me out, let me know when i can get a brain chip thingy for my dog so he will stop taking a shit on the grass and instead dump his load in the sandbox like hes supposed to
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I wonder when I can buy myself one of these. It's only a matter of time before you can buy it in the Sharper Image.
Radio-Controlled Cyborg Beetles Become Reality
Well, it's about damn time. You know how long I've been waiting for this day?
/wipes away a single tear
We're still decades (centuries? maybe, if there's roadblocks) away from being able to create a sense organ for radio and training an animal to follow commands received via it. Of course, then someone will want the communication to two way so you can see through the bug's eyes, etc. Before you know it you've equipped a social insect with a massive evolutionary advantage which it uses to form the most fearsome hive mind, flies into space and takes over the galaxy. Gah, then we have to flight bugs in space, eww.
How we know is more important than what we know.
So you'd have a remote controlled Volkswagen then?!?
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
Because we control the remote control on you and TOLD you to say that. Insects. Get real. That was last decades tech. So passé.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
But they will bring you dung if you like.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
No, but being African, they can spread terror over American cities by killing thousands of people.
in Africa. Where else will giant African beatles blend in?!
The Berkeley team has apparently been taken over, conquered if you will, by a master race of giant radio-controlled cyborg beetles.
It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive Berkeley men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain, there is no stopping them. The beetles will soon be here.
And I, for one, welcome our new radio controlled cyborg beetles.
This was first done in the 5th Element when Zorg's assistant spies on the president. Obviously, according to IP law, DARPA owes the creators of the 5th Element $500 Trillion (in standard RIAA dollars).
You just can't interface beetles into a low-power ZigBee mesh.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
It is only a matter of time before the US uses these robotic bees to spy on "evil" nations' activities.
I just had an interesting thought. If the same research happened in Iran or N. Korea, then the western media would have, by now, successfully crafted false stories like "Iran prepares robotic spies for spying on US". It is very sad that we are not seeing stories like "US preparing to dispatch robotic bees to all evil parts of the world."
The largest prime factor of my UID is 263267.
Somehow I think George Berkeley would be somewhat disappointed to see his namesake directly manipulating living organisms for the purpose of spying on humans.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
From what I've read they're many years away from perfecting this, it's too full of bugs.
'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
today, people cook cow meat for dinner. Tomorrow, they'll be cooking me and you!
Come on.
Reducing the supply of ideas will not prevent or reduce violence overall.
Still waiting for the "omg. think of the children dept" and "omg terrorists are everywhere dept." to start wiring presumed dangerous people.
Just think of the benefits, if anything bad happens the department can just push the big red button and every dangerous man in the country automatically stops whatever they are doing and walks to the detention camp/holding cell until the the dept. in charge have figured out who had done it.
Brilliant! I can't wait for this system to get applied in a wider area than bugs.
...look out! I lived in west Africa for many years and I'll never forget what it's like for one of those to hit the windshield while driving at night at 120Km/h. I was hoping to never see one again.
Beetles today, people tomorrow.
Soon other people will be doing the same thing, using DARPA's leadership, and terrorism using that method will be common. In the entire history of the world, the U.S. government is the biggest originator of violence. The U.S. government has invaded or bombed 25 countries since the end of the 2nd world war. The U.S. has more citizens in prison than farmers. Weapons investors like Cheney and his friends and the Bush family want continuous war.
*slap* Shut up and make a bug joke.
RADIO-CONTROLLED CYBORG BEETLES!
RADIO-CONTROLLED CYBORG BEETLES!
Beetles with some brain chips... BEETLE POWER!
Sorry, I couldn't help myself. *makes a pitch to Warner Bros.*
Seriously, why do you have to live in a stupid bubble that says a total dictatorship backed up by concentration camps isn't evil? These countries aren't like, ho hum, the USA, where you call yourself oppressed because your daddy didn't give attention. These are countries where you call yourself oppressed because you said you were hungry and the 5 year plan said you had more food than ever, or you said that you were unhappy and Allah should provide.
I'm so sick of hearing people put the USA on the same moral ground as places like that. We aren't like that, and we aren't like that because we have people that do the work of keeping us not like that. There's cultural institutions that have been put in place, educational traditions. Granted, liberals are tearing all that down and replacing it with the sort of self indulgent crap that invariably leads to a sense of entitlement about property and ultimately a dictatorship class, but, they haven't been successful yet.
This is my sig.
I was afraid there was going to be stupid tether wire, but NO TETHER. Truly remote controlled this time.
Would you need an addbug to troubleshoot it?
--- Users are like bacteria -> Each one causing a thousand tiny crises until the host finally gives up and dies.
I'll admit it creeps me out. Not that I have any problem with slicing and dicing bugs for science, but the whole area of brain control of any species, especially when that research is government funded really bothers me.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I, for one, welcome our new Fabricated Four overlords!
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Fifth Element, Zorg
Their control method seems very crude to me. They have no control over the bugs little brain at all. If you want it to take off, give it an electric jolt, and it will fly away. Like hitting cow with a stick. Sure, that works. If you want it to stop, give it a bigger jolt, and it will drop out of the air. Like hitting a someone over the head with a bigger stick. Left and right: shock one wing so it will twitch and not work properly for a moment while the other wing goes on, and voila, steering. This is not neuro-science, but animal cruelty.
By the way, something similar, only more funny, has been done with humans recently: http://thekeyidea.blogspot.com/2009/08/controlling-navigation-by-ear-pulling.html
assignment != equality != identity
LMAO, looks exactly like the GNAA posts.
I hope YOU realize what a useless, batshit crazy troll you are, because it's blindingly obvious to the rest of us.
I'm sure we could wire directly into their nervous system and use an ArduinoBT to act as the brain. That way you just put a smartphone paired to the Arduino in the politico's pocket (which can also handle the heavier processing like translating text to be spoken into muscle movements) - you send commands via SSH, that's beamed to the "brain" and the politico says something smart, votes on a bill, goes on a killing spree, etc.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
You do realise that coconuts don't come from Africa?
So long as PETA doesn't get involved, the issue of remote controlled animals will go fine.
LMAO, looks exactly like the GNAA posts.
Actually, it was meant to be a take-off of newsmax. Besides, I do not endorse racist content in any way. Just because you hate white people doesn't mean that I have to.
because it's blindingly obvious to the rest of us
Whose the "rest of us"? Liberals don't speak for the people, they want to arrange them in a way they think is best for them, but you don't echo their demands, believe in their culture, or support their causes, you know, that guns, god, and religion, country, community, family, and hard work stuff. Liberals are just totalitarian shills for would be dictators behind the scenes.
This is my sig.
LMAO, looks exactly like the GNAA posts.
It was meant to be a takeoff of Newsmax posts.
This is my sig.
Except that it appears that they don't actually have brain control. They just poke the beetle to make it move.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
think of the insect children!
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Is it just me or does anyone else think messing with creatures in this way is off-the-scale barbaric and shouldn't be done whatever the reason?
It really scares me that there's apprarently no limit to the depths governments and universities will sink in the name of money or whats laughably called 'defence' (read: to kill more people more efficiently).
How far will mankind go towards the worst visions of the future before enough decent people say 'no more'?
I don't know about you, but I'm all for remote controlled bugs instead of ridiculous cold-war style WMDs that are useless in the types of wars that are forseeable in the near future.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
While I don't agree with the slippery slope argument, the AC has a point. All responses to him at this point have used the killing metaphor, but I don't think that's appropriate. This process is more akin to torture.
We have rules for war that disallow such things as dumdum bullets designed to maim the hell out of people. We have rules against torture (though the US doesn't seem to concern itself with following them). It's clear to me that even in situations where killing is sanctioned, such as war, we don't like the idea of prolonged anguish.
Now apply this to the bugs. To the extent that they have consciousness, by implanting these devices their control over their movements is subverted. The creature has no idea why it's suddenly flying around in circles and can do nothing to stop it. This is unquestionably causing stress on the beetle's nervous system, conscious or not.
Personally, I don't think it will get to the point where it is used on people, but I could see it being used in birds and mammals like cats and dogs, all of which we know are conscious at some level higher than insects, and all of which would be adversely affected by a loss of control.
It can be claimed that such implants will pave the way for human control of external devices, and the benefits of that outweigh ethical concerns, but it should at least be discussed IMO.
Your brain is not a computer.
China's Red Army are now increasing their food supply. This way China creates a shortage of beetles. Now beetles become so expensive, that it's no more efficient too use beetles for espionage.
How about when they make one of those chips for us? I can imagine being forced to watch "The View" 24/7.
Or maybe not... HeeeeelllllllPPPP!!!
- A Frog in a pond utters an azure cry. -
Just wait until the radio-controlled cyborg Ringo Starr is chasing you down the street with super-human speed and strength. More unfortunate yet, it won't make him a better drummer.
This weaponized bio-technology will give a whole new meaning to assassin bugs.
-kgj
I heard you liked bugs, so I put a bug in yo bug so you can crash while you crash.
Great, now transfer the tech to small birds, add a tiny bit of gelegnite, and send your new weapon at the throat of whatever head of state you wish. No more slow news days! I can't wait 'till the home kit comes out...
Isn't it great the govt publicizes new tech like this so widely?