It's that old "Animals in Science" story, abuse at its best.
Remember the Tweet a Roach project?
Here we go again... the poor bugs to face more hardship...
Roach power pack concept. (via Techon)
Roaches are one of the most resilient creatures on earth. They have survived since the time of the dinosaurs and now, a team of Japanese researchers are celebrating their virtual indestructibility by recruiting them for new environmental and emergency response projects.
Researchers from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and Osaka University jointly developed a fuel cell that runs on the sugar in a roach’s body fluid, potentially allowing for a network of insect-heroes that can create an immense wireless sensory network. While the project is still in the beginning stages, if successful, our creepy crawler insect friends may be able to locate victims during national emergencies, detect toxicity levels during chemical or biological emergencies and monitor the levels of pollution in major cities.
The fuel cell was announced at the 27th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electric Mechanical Systems held last week in San Francisco, CA. It is 20 x 15mm and has a hollow pin that inserts into the back of the insect, allowing the cell to sit like a backpack on the roach’s back. The fuel cell is powered by trehalose, or sugar, which is present in the insect’s body fluid, then oxidized to create an energized battery that can power whatever electronic is carries with it during a particular mission. Only around 50.2 microWatts is created with a single roach.
The fuel cell is still, however, in the developing stages and it will likely be quite some time before we see a roach brigade at the scene of a chemical explosion. Japanese researchers recently reported complications with keeping the fuel cell powered during clinical trials, but they expect to devise a feasible solution soon, bringing the cyborg roaches to a kitchen near you this summer! Well… maybe not.
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