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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.
Correction: The Fifth Element!
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.
First thing that popped into my mind was a shoe being slammed down on the mechanical cockroach and Right Arm screaming in pain as he pulls the headphones off his ears... Now everyone around me is wondering why I'm laughing...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Watch The Fifth Element again.
In the robotics lab at the university I work at they have functional insect robots, both flying and walking, remote controllable or semi-autonomous, remote video/audio, self charging by landing on light fixtures and such, actual insect sized (not a 10CM "cockroach" jeez) as office toys. They are WAY beyond the stuff noted here by the Russians. Scary way beyond...
Right. In Russia, its much cheaper to just train real cockroach to be spies. Tiny sunglasses and trenchcoats are the giveaway.