For some baffling reason, a bunch of tiny, fence-like web structures keep showing up in the Peruvian jungle. Measuring about two centimeters across and delicately constructed, they’re beautiful in a way. And since scientists have no idea how they got there, they’re also totally mysterious.
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Take any completely outlandish idea and put the word ‘Florida’ in the same sentence and all of a sudden it makes a lot more sense. The state, known for its roaming gangs of blood-sucking mosquitoes, is hoping to take to the skies to help battle the menace by using camera-equipped drones to spot shallow pools of water where the insects breed and reproduce.
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Up close, bugs are terrifying. Heck, from far, bugs are terrifying. But with the safe distance through the lens of a camera? They’re amazing.
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This is it. My favorite annual Shooting Challenge of the year. You go out into the grass and muck and photograph bugs.
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I’m not particularly fond of roaches, but I don’t exactly hate them either. I’d just rather not come face to face with any one of these insects because creepy crawly insects just give me the heebie jeebies. That said, I’m still on the fence when it comes to the RoboRoach project by Backyard Brains.
The RoboRoach kit, which is currently up for funding on Kickstarter, includes the “backpack”, a helmet, a battery, and recording electrodes. You’ll have to be comfortable with handling roaches, because you’ll have to anesthetize them before performing surgery on them to place wires into their antennae.
Once everything’s all set up, then you can begin to control the cyborg roach using your smartphone.
In a nutshell, here’s how the RoboRoach works: When you send a command from your mobile phone, the backpack sends pulses to the antenna, which causes its neurons to fire, such that the roach to think there is a wall on one side. The result? The roach turns!
Attempting to control something alive might have ethical implications, and Backyard Brains has got that covered in their ethical statement. They also explain that the roach doesn’t get shocked or hurt when the RoboRoach is on in their FAQs, so you might want to check that section out if you’re concerned about the well-being of these insects.
A minimum pledge of $100(USD) will get you one of your very own RoboRoach kits. Though you’ll have to spend at least $150 if you want them to include some live cockroaches for you to play with.
[via C|NET]
Technologists have been drawing inspiration from the insect world for a long time. And folks working on robotics really seem to love their creepy-crawlies and buzzing arthropods. Researchers at the University of Illinois are looking to our eight-legged planet mates, not for mobility lessons, but as a reference for a new camera design. The system mimics the vision of bees and mantises by combining multiple lenses on a half hemisphere to provide a 180-degree view with a nearly infinite depth of field. The optics themselves are described as “soft, rubbery” and each individual microlens is paired with its own photodiode. The work gets us a heck of a lot closer to the dream of a digital fly eye than previous efforts, though we’re likely still quite a while from seeing applications outside of the lab. DARPA funding suggests the artificial compound eyes may have a future in surveillance, though the researchers also see uses for it in medicine.
Filed under: Cameras
Via: The Verge
Source: University of Illinois
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