Max: Cyborg Moths of Doom
Cyborg insects 'born' in DARPA project
Insects with modified body structures and embedded micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) have survived to adulthood in a US Defense Advanced Reseach Projects Agency (DARPA) programme.
DARPA wants to develop inexpensive micro air vehicles to find weapons and explosives inside buildings or caves. Mechanical and fluidic microsystems would allow remote control, could extend insect life, and provide for gas, audio and even imaging sensors.
In the latest work a Manduca moth had its thorax truncated to reduce its mass and had a MEMS component added where abdominal segments would have been, during the larval stage.
Isn't this how Mothra got its start?
Insects with modified body structures and embedded micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) have survived to adulthood in a US Defense Advanced Reseach Projects Agency (DARPA) programme.
DARPA wants to develop inexpensive micro air vehicles to find weapons and explosives inside buildings or caves. Mechanical and fluidic microsystems would allow remote control, could extend insect life, and provide for gas, audio and even imaging sensors.
In the latest work a Manduca moth had its thorax truncated to reduce its mass and had a MEMS component added where abdominal segments would have been, during the larval stage.
Isn't this how Mothra got its start?
posted by Max Dobberstein at 3/19/2008 11:47:00 AM
2 Comments:
Mothra was exposed to a lot of radiation - so if you flew this through the aftermath of a nuclear blast, then, yeah - why not???
This technology is just the future of technology seen from one angle.
Now, mix in a little nanotech and a little gengineering, nothing fancy, just the stuff that's currently on the drawing board, and you get a little closer to the goal this project is aiming for.
Imagine you were to fly a bomber or a UAV close to an enemy area and drop a canister. This canister would have a set of larvae inside in hibernation. On contact with the ground, a hormone is released to the larvae who "wake up" and begin to grow up.
In 12 hours you would have full grown insects that have micro machinery already built inside of them by the viruses they were infected with. The machinery is simple flash memory that is connected to the eyes of the creature.
The insect has been programmed to fly to a certain point on the ground. Insects like bees can locate flowers by being told the position of the sun relative to the flowers - this kind of natural programming could be exploited.
The insects fly to the position. When they have reached the right place, they trigger their memory. They record everything they see. The insects know nothing about what they are doing. They are merely flying to a location and then flying around the location for ten minutes, then they fly back to the device that delivered them.
When they get back to the device, they down load the video of what they saw and "go to sleep". The combined info from several insects would make a very detailed picture of an area. The canister sends the information that was gathered by the insects to a satellite and then self destructs.
Sound like sci-fi? Well, it is for the moment. But, several of these things are already doable or nearly doable and the rest will come online in short order. Not only will this be doable soon, it will be cheap. Certainly cheaper than a spy sat or flying an armed plane into and out of a hot zone to snap ten seconds of pictures.
The world is changing kids - get ready.
Post a Comment
<< Home