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Science & Technology

Russia unveils its new cockroach spy robot

By T.K. Randall
September 25, 2015 · Comment icon 14 comments

The new robot is based on the movements of real cockroaches. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Thomas Quine
The miniature surveillance robot looks just like a cockroach and can be used to spy on enemy activities.
Researchers have previously experimented with the idea of controlling insects using electrodes implanted in their brains, but now scientists in Russia have come up with a unique approach that enables the same type of functionality but without having to involve any live specimens.

Developed at the Baltic Federal Immanuel Kant University, the new contraption looks remarkably similar to a cockroach but is in fact completely robotic. Its design is intended to help camouflage it during surveillance activities while enabling it to collect as much intelligence data as possible.
The current prototype is approximately four inches long, can travel at a speed of twelve inches per second and lasts about twenty minutes on a single charge of its batteries. The team who built it however is hoping to significantly improve its operational lifespan over the coming months.

With the capacity to carry a small camera and the ability to squeeze in to tiny spaces it is believed that the Russian military are very interested in using the robot for surveillance purposes.

There is also interest from search and rescue services as the robot could be used to climb through debris after a disaster to help pinpoint the location of trapped survivors.



Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (14)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #5 Posted by ShadowSot 9 years ago
Everyone is saying Fifth Element. Any Xfiles love?
Comment icon #6 Posted by qxcontinuum 9 years ago
so they taken one of those gadget toys you find everywhere including Walmart and placed an RC module with a camera lens. I can do it for 100$ or buy them from Alibaba for 5.5 dollars
Comment icon #7 Posted by bubblykiss 9 years ago
And the moose beats me to the punch again. Well this means only one thing, time to drink more coffee and go buy some apple cider.
Comment icon #8 Posted by Eldorado 9 years ago
Bad enough having a bug going around without having a bug going around that takes your pics and reads yor mail.
Comment icon #9 Posted by WolvenHeart7 9 years ago
Wouldn't last long in my house, we'd squash it.
Comment icon #10 Posted by bubblykiss 9 years ago
Bad enough having a bug going around without having a bug going around that takes your pics and reads yor mail. A bug within a Bug that is a robotic bug? Dude, we just entered Bugception
Comment icon #11 Posted by Misanthropic 9 years ago
Of all the things to pick, they chose the cockroach. Any other little creepy crawler i'd probably catch, then put outside. Cockroaches, no, they don't get a second chance. If i ever see one in my home, it dies!
Comment icon #12 Posted by highdesert50 9 years ago
Perhaps some humour in the notion of a using a cockroach as a spy ... an insect that finds its food by foraging through the filth of the world.
Comment icon #13 Posted by Paranomali 9 years ago
This is just odd. Seriously?
Comment icon #14 Posted by Immune to Bieberfever 9 years ago
Does he listen when you call him "Vladimir"


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