Engineers Turn Locusts into Cyborg Sensing Machines

Locusts like this one will be turned into cyborg insects with the aim of developing improved bomb detectors.

We've all heard of mad science, but this sounds like mad engineering!

A team of engineers has received a three-year $750,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop the highly sensitive olfactory system of locusts into a bio-hybrid “nose” for homeland security applications. Although this isn’t the first electronic nose we've covered, it's certainly the strangest.

Why Use Locusts as Bomb Detectors?

The engineers studied the neurological activity of locusts to determine how sensory signals are received and processed. Locust brains are simple and easy to study, yet the insects are capable of identifying very specific odors when many other odors are present. They can also be trained to recognize specific odors and, when tested, recognize the scent with ease even when it's masked by other odors.

This makes their sophisticated olfactory system more practical and precise than those of canines for developing bio-robot sensors.

“Why reinvent the wheel? Why not take advantage of the biological solution? That is the philosophy here,” said Baranidharan Raman, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. “Even the state-of-the-art miniaturized chemical sensing devices have a handful of sensors. On the other hand, if you look at the insect antenna, where their chemical sensors are located, there are several hundreds of thousands of sensors and a variety of types.”

Developing a Locust-Based Sensor

The initial plan is to study free-moving locusts and their neurological responses to odors in different environments. By collecting data on how the insect decodes present odors, the engineers can design machines based on results. Shantanu Chakrabartty, who works on developing miniature electronics in his Adaptive Integrated Microsystems Laboratory, will collaborate with Raman to develop low-power electronic components to collect, log and transmit data from the locusts. The idea is to use the locusts as bio-robotic systems to collect samples by remote control.

How could they possibly control the locust movement?

According to an expert in multifunctional nanomaterials, Srikanth Singamaneni, biocompatible plasmonic silk can be applied to locust wings. By generating mild levels of heat, the insects can be steered towards desired locations through a remote control, not unlike the cyborg cockroaches being used to teach STEM.

The attached nanostructures can also collect samples of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for secondary analysis of chemical compound makeup using conventional methods. VOCs have a high vapor pressure at room temperature and some are toxic to human health and the environment over time.

“We expect this work to develop and demonstrate a proof-of-concept, hybrid locust–based, chemical-sensing approach for explosive detection,” said Raman.

What's your favorite example of mad engineering? Share it in the Comments below.