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Russian Scientists Create Cockroach Spy Robot
An anonymous reader writes: A team of scientists at the Kaliningrad-based Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University has unveiled a small cockroach robot which will be tasked with hunting out victims trapped under debris. The robot measures 10cm in length, and can move at up to 30cm/second. The device is fitted with light sensors, as well as contact and non-contact probes which allows it to move around without bumping into any obstacles. “We had to develop many things from scratch. For example, there’s a company in Austria that produces gearing for legs, but a unit for one robot would have cost us nearly $9,000 while our entire budget is $22,500,” said Danil Borchevkin, the university’s lead engineer.
10cm is 4 inches. That is a big f**king roach. I guess they grow 'em big in Russia. When read the title, I was envisaging something a bit more, you know, roach sized.
My guess if it had to look like a real cockroach, the purpose is first and foremost spying.
If it's truly just the "go into debris and look for people", there is no need whatsoever to look like a cockroach.
That design constraint pretty much screams covert spying.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.