Researchers at Japan’sRiken新兴物质科学中心(CEMS) have used 3D printing to create a device which transforms cockroaches into remote control cyborgs.
3D printed from an elastic polymer that allows it to follow the curved surface of the insect’s thorax, the team’s tiny backpack enables the carrying of a locomotion control module and solar cell. These, in turn, provide users with a means of electrically stimulating a cockroach’s cercus to issue navigational commands, and preventing it from breaking free by keeping its battery charged via the sun.
Riken Scientific Institute的Masataka Sasabe说：“保持电池充电至关重要 - 没有人希望突然漫游的Cyborg Cockroaches的失控团队在漫游。”“虽然有可能建立对电池充电的对接站，但返回和充电的需求可能会破坏时间敏感的任务。因此，最好的解决方案是包括一个板载太阳能电池，该电池可以连续确保电池保持电量。”
Cyborg search and rescue insects?
CitingNanyang Technological University cyborg insect researchcarried out last year, the CEMS scientists say controllable bugs hold significant potential as future urban search and rescue vehicles. Theoretically, the team believe the little critters could be used to enter areas too dangerous for humans to access, but they add that storing enough charge to power tiny control devices “remains challenging.”
为了防止此类机器人不断返回基地以进行充电，科学家建议将它们安装在能量收集设备上，能够在移动中充电。虽然酶生物燃料电池的最高记录输出为333μW，并且事实证明，在先前的研究中，CEMS团队现在说，太阳能可以使该数字驱动到10兆瓦。
With this in mind, the researchers’ project has seen them focus on finding ways to affix solar batteries and navigational devices to insects without giving them too heavy a load to bear, and compromising their “basic behavioral abilities.”
“To integrate devices into small animals with limited surface areas and carry loads, device design and integration strategy of large-area solar cells is required,” explain the CEMS scientists in their research paper. “Because the output power of the solar cell is proportional to the area, both the load of the device and the contact between the device and the moving joints considerably impair motion abilities.”
把蟑螂变成半机械人
To maximize the success of their battery and circuit board-carrying device, the scientists designed it to fit the Madagascan cockroach, one of the biggest in the world, with a body up to 7 centimeters long. Manufacturing their backpack usingFormLabs的表格3 3D打印机和Elastic 50A material只要它具有符合昆虫弯曲的身体的灵活性，同时使其成为理想的安装点。
我们在他们的背包里,研究人员发现他们re able to attach a 4 µm-thick organic solar cell module to one of the insect’s abdomens, which after circuit boosting, yielded a power output of 4.2 V. This charge could then be used to power a wireless module capable of receiving signals from an external server, and making the cockroach comply with them via electric shocks to its navigational cercus.
In early attempts to use the device to control cockroaches through obstacle courses, the solar cells proved too thick or rigidly attached, in a way that slowed them down and made it tricky for them to self-right. However, by replacing a 3 µm-thick film holding the cell in place with a resin adhesive, the team found their insect cyborgs were a lot more nimble.
在充电性能方面，测试还表明，太阳能电池模块能够在充分充电后为设备供电两个小时。结果，研究人员得出的结论是，他们的方法是一种有效的“将电子设备安装”到蟑螂上的“设计策略”，这可以帮助“扩大活动范围并实现各种各样的昆虫功能”，向前迈进。
Creating cyborg cockroaches may be on the niche side of 3D printing research, but the technology has also been used in the development of human mind-controlling and brain-treating devices.Renishaw已经取得了重大进展3D printed neuroinfuse drug delivery device, a platform it’s developing withHerantis Pharmato treat Parkinson’s, which has now gone through clinical trials.
Elsewhere, in a project carried out at阿斯顿大学last year, scientists explored the potential of3D bioprinting in treating neurological conditions. As part of the EU-backed中脑项目，该团队生成了自定义的3D打印干细胞衍生的神经元，该神经元可用于开发新一代的疾病建模和测试工具。
The researchers’ findings are detailed in their paper titled “Integration of body-mounted ultrasoft organic solar cell on cyborg insects with intact mobility.” The study was co-authored by Yujiro Kakei, Shumpei Katayama, Shinyoung Lee, Masahito Takakuwa, Kazuya Furusawa, Shinjiro Umezu, Hirotaka Sato, Kenjiro Fukuda and Takao Someya.
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Featured image shows a cockroach wearing the researchers’ 3D printed backpack. Photo via the RIKEN CEMS.
