This cockroach needs to get to Broadway, stat.

It's hopping on the L,

transferring to the NQR at Union Square,

and arriving at its final destination, Times Square.

Eventually your commute becomes second nature,

you do it without thinking.

And this cockroach is not thinking either.

Instead it's being directed by a microchip

in its backpack.

Researchers at North Carolina State University

have found a way to bug a cockroach.

By hacking its sensors, researchers can remote control

a roach to go wherever they want.

But why would they do this?

I'm Alper Bozkurt and I'm an Assistant Professor

in Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

at North Carolina State University.

Our idea is a swarm of cyber roaches

that carries little microphoness on their backpacks

and those backpacks have very sensitive sensors

and very efficient radioses, they form a radio network

and we help our cyber roaches

to decide in which direction to go.

How does it work?

Cockroaches use their antennae to sense

and understand the environment around them.

So when an antennae touches something solid

it sends an electrical signal to their brain

to turn in a different direction.

Alper Bozkurt harnesses this behaviour by attaching

his own electrodes to the roaches antennae under anesthesia.

These electrodes stimulate the antennae to send

electrical signals to the brain and allow Bozkurt

and his team to direct the roach where to go.

These electrodes are connected to the roaches backpack

which acts like an extension of the roaches' brain

it consists of a battery, a microchip with a radio

to communicate with the controller

and microphoness to triangulate sound.

You can actually try this at home by purchasing a kit

from Backyard Brains to create your own cyber roach.

Cockroach not included.

Cockroaches are available even in pet stores

and they are not pest insects

they are exotic pet insects from Madagascar.

This is a chamber where we keep our cockroaches

and observe their behavior.

Cockroaches are amazing and they were able to survive

millions of years of harsh environmental conditions

and they are good crawlers and they are good climbers

so in this chamber we try to understand

what cockroaches do during their day life

and during their night lift.

So far this tech controls a single roach

but what about an intrusion of cockroaches?

And what could you use this intrusion for?

It was in 1999 I joined search and rescue efforts

after the earthquake in Turkey where about 20,000

people lost their lives.

One of the most critical questions is

where are the living surviving victims.

You need to find those people in a short amount of time,

time is very critical, and right now there is no

technology out there that can provide this.

With the power of an intrusion he can send his

cyber roaches as first responders into deadly environments

to locate and rescue potential survivors.

For example, during a search and rescue mission

they would release an intrusion of cyber roaches

to naturally roam the search area.

As the roaches explore the space, they gather data

that is used to create a 3D map of the environment.

If a roach travels outside the search area

the computer will automatically stimulate its antennae

to direct it back in.

Once a roach detects the sounds of a survivor

beacons from fixed radio towers would activate

and locate the cyber roach and thus the survivor.

I love cockroaches.

Some people may think that they are very ugly

but roaches may also think that humans are ugly.

We had very excited demonstrations in the laboratory

environment and we are ready to bring this technology

into simulations of collapsed buildings to test it

and find out what would be the next level of challenges.

These cyber roaches are just the first

step in cyborg insects.

DARPA is already funding research into controlling

the flight of cyborg beetles and moths

as potential surveillance drones.

So watch what you say because some day soon,

big brother could be bugging your room, with an actual bug.

Check out more episodes of Cyborg Nation

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