Watch This Cyborg Cockroach Test Its New Diving Suit
SMRTR summary
They survived the dinosaurs. Now they're getting SCUBA gear.
Following the 2025 Myanmar earthquake, cyborg cockroaches, Madagascar hissing cockroaches fitted with tiny electrodes for remote guidance, were deployed in disaster rescue. Now engineers at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have given them a serious upgrade: a miniature 3-D-printed diving suit, complete with an oxygen tank and silicone tubes that deliver air directly to the insect's body.
In tests, the suited cockroaches paddled through flooded pipes and squeezed through gaps under an inch wide, surviving underwater for hours compared to the two minutes an unequipped cockroach can manage.
"This is important because real disaster sites can be challenging after heavy rain or flooding, blocking access routes in the rubble, drains, and narrow gaps," said study author Hirotaka Sato.
Beyond disaster zones, these amphibious insects could inspect pipes and tunnels no robot or human could easily reach. Unlike traditional robots, they need no bulky batteries and can navigate hazards semi-autonomously. The future, apparently, has six legs.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Nautilus.
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