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Friday, September 2, 2011

Cyborg Beetles’ Neural Implants Could Suck Power From Bugs’ Wing Beats

beetle
These spiral generators scavenge power when the beetle beats its wings.

What’s the News: Building tiny fly-like robots—for spying, search and rescue, and so on—has a long history in robotics. But some researchers, citing the challenge of building agile, dynamic machines at that scale, have turned to Mother Nature instead and made living beetles into cyborgs, controlling their flight via neural implants.

Finding a power source that’s light enough for these beetles to port around has been difficult, but now, a team of roboticists have found that harvesting power from their beating wings could be a way to make these ‘borgs go battery-less.

Read More: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/09/02/cyborg-beetles’-neural-implants-could-suck-power-from-bugs-wing-beats/

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