Half-machine, half-beetle takes to the air for the very first time

Squadrons of “cyborg beetles” may sound like science fiction, but could soon become reality after the mid-air movements of real free-flying insects were controlled by scientists for the first time.

Beetles were made to take off and land, fly to the right or left, and even hover in mid-flight thanks to a radio transmitter and a miniature backpack of electronics attached to the insects.

If the technology can be further refined, it would be possible in the future to use flying insects as miniature drones loaded with tiny electronic sensors for flying over and searching difficult terrain, they said.

“Beetles are ideal study subjects because they can carry relatively heavy payloads,” said Hirotaka Sato of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, who carried out the research with colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley.

We could easily add a small microphone and thermal sensors for applications in search-and-rescue missions. With this technology, we could safely explore areas not accessible before, such as the small nooks and crevices in a collapsed building.

• Dr Sato

More: 12 beautiful award-winning science photos