DARPA Creates Remote Controlled Insects

EmagGeek writes "Attempts by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create cybernetic insects (hybrids of biological and electronic 'bugs') have yielded ultra-low power radios to control the bugs' flight and a method of powering those circuits by harvesting energy, according to research that will be reported this week at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference. 'Electrodes and a control chip are inserted into a moth during its pupal stage. When the moth emerges the electrodes stimulate its muscles to control its flight. I expect a run on bug zappers any day."

I, for one, welcome our new Insect Overlords

If you sign up now you won't get hive duty and can assist as a pollinator.

Re:I, for one, welcome our new Insect Overlords

This sounds far too inexpensive to trust our Fearless Leaders with. The only thing that has saved us so far is the cost of deployment.

Re:I, for one, welcome our new Insect Overlords

Hm, not sure how this is a dup? Original article said what BAE systems were working on in the UK (but did not even have a working prototype of); this article says what DARPA and Boyce are working on in the US (but also no working prototype).

Too, DARPA's project seems to be focused on combining bio and electronic/mechanical systems, while BAE's was basically a robot.

Bugs?

Queue avalanche of "debugging" jokes in 4... 3... 2...

Re:Bugs?

1... 0... -1... -2... -3...

oops, sorry the damn while loop was never told to break at 0, looks like it will just have to wait till CTRL+C!

Re:

... -4... 1... -14... 23... 5.

It hasn't happened!!

What a waste of time. They are presenting papers about what their research goals are. They haven't actually done it yet.

There are other people with research goals to find a cure for cancer....but that's not news.

Re:It hasn't happened!!

> Re:It hasn't happened!!
Citation Needed.

FTA:

Boyce Thompson Institute ... presented progress.. describing silicon neural interfaces for gas sensors that were inserted into insects during the pupal phase. ... Researchers led by DARPA contractor MIT will present a low-power ultrawide-band radio, a digital baseband processor, and a piezoelectric energy-harvesting system that scavenges power from vibrations.

I didn't find a more specific article, but it sounds to me like they've got some working hardware they're going to demo. If I'm reading it wrong, I'd appreciate a better link.

Re:

They are presenting papers about what their research goals are. They haven't actually done it yet.

Welcome to academia. Have a nice stay.

They would have had this technology ages ago

But in QA they decided they were to buggy.

potential application:

they should outfit their zombie remote control insects with some sort of nanobot syringe that injects enemy troops with some sort of bioweapon, such as an intracellular parasite genetically attuned to weaken enemy troops and render them unable to fight

oh, wait...

Can I Get One for Me?

Can I get one of these things to take my lazy butt down to the gym in the morning?

This gives a whole new meaning...

... to the act of filing a "Bug Report".
"What did the bugs report today?"
"Don't ask me, it was filed in the bug report."
"Have the bugs reported?"
"Not yet, but they'll be buzzing the tower in a few minutes."

At mere $3,000,000 per bug...

At mere $3,000,000 per bug our government will create swarms of moths to charge into the windshields of Taliban truckers and irk the crap out of them.

Moses claims prior art . . .

. . . didn't he have swarms of 'dem critters? Sicked 'em on the Ancient Egyptians, and stuff. Since Moses was a meticulous man, he probably kept the blueprints for his remote controlled insects in a safe place. All we need to do is find the Ark of the Covenant; the plans are probably in there.

Or have the patents belonging to biblical leaders expired already?

And if you need God to power the insects, that might be a bit of a problem. Only CERN has that much energy at their disposal.

Still can't resist the sex...

He cites some limitations for insects, including a tendency for moths to approach light sources (the proverbial flames) and a powerful sex pheromone response that could override attempts at remote electronic control. "Pheromones are incredibly powerful," he says.

Even billions of dollars in US military funding can't keep a moth from getting laid.

Re:Still can't resist the sex...

On the other hand, Slashdot can accomplish the same for millions of nerds with no government funding at all!

Re:

That was a miniseries called Charlie Jade [wikipedia.org]. Not the best acting, and they fucked the story up a bit -- but I still enjoyed it.

Re:I saw this in a B movie on the sci-fi channel.

I saw a bugged cockroach in Fifth Element too.
I hope one day they will be able to reconstruct a person from fragment DNA too :)

Re:I saw this in a B movie on the sci-fi channel.

I hope they can reconstruct my own personal Milla Jovovich from fragment DNA :)

Re:

The problem is she would probably clone me from a fragment of my DNA and leave you.</joke>

Re:

I recall a remote-controlled cockroach in this movie... [imdb.com]

Kind of gives new meaning to the "this room is bugged" cliche.

Re:

I remember something similar sounding in Time Crisis 4, which incase anyone was wondering is the worst time crisis ive ever seen.

I know you arent, but I dont care.

Re:So then.

It's an implanted device. It can't mutate.

You might as well wonder what will happen if you cell phone mutates.

Cellphones mutating?

Its more likely than you think. [youtube.com] ;)