Sunday, May 04, 2008

Cyborg insects -- electromechanical components integrated into larvae of insects

In the latest work a Manduca moth had its thorax truncated to reduce its mass and had a MEMS [micro-electromechanical systems] component added where abdominal segments would have been, during the larval stage.

Images taken by x-ray of insects with these changes and others found that tissue growth around the inserted probes was good. One DARPA goal is to show that during locomotion the heat and mechanical power generated by the thorax could be harnessed to power the MEMS.

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