The familiar sounds of cicadas are a hallmark of summer in many areas, even inspiring tracks in popular music, including Lorde’s 2021 album Solar Power. Researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan have now advanced the field of bioengineering by developing a method to create cyborg cicadas that can “perform” Pachelbel’s Canon. Their findings are detailed in a preprint available on the physics-focused arXiv. You can listen to the unique sounds generated by these insects here.
The concept of cyborg insects has captivated scientists since the 1990s when early experiments involved implanting miniature electrodes into cockroach antennae, allowing researchers to control their movements. This work aimed at creating hybrid robots for applications such as search-and-rescue missions.
For example, in a 2015 study, Texas A&M scientists discovered that implanting electrodes into a cockroach’s ganglion, the cluster of neurons responsible for controlling its front legs, provided successful steering capabilities 60 percent of the time. They equipped the insects with small backpacks linked to remote controllers that administered shocks, helping to navigate them by altering their balance.
Following this trend, scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in 2021 transformed Madagascar hissing cockroaches into cyborgs by placing electrodes in their cerci, specialized sensory structures. Applying electrical currents allowed these researchers to guide the cockroaches with an impressive accuracy of 94 percent during simulated emergency scenarios conducted in a laboratory setting.
