New research from North Carolina State University offers insights into how far and how fast cyborg cockroaches – or biobots – move when exploring new spaces. The work moves researchers closer to their goal of using biobots to explore collapsed buildings and other spaces in order to identify survivors.

Researchers introduced biobots into a circular structure. Some biobots were allowed to move at will, while others were given random commands to move forward, left or right. (Related video can be seen here)

The researchers found that unguided biobots preferred to hug the wall of the circle. But by sending the biobots random commands, the biobots spent more time moving, moved more quickly and were at least five times more likely to move away from the wall and into open space.

“Our earlier studies had shown that we can use neural stimulation to control the direction of a roach and make it go from one point to another”, says Alper Bozkurt, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and co-author of the two papers. “This [second] study shows that by randomly stimulating the roaches we can benefit from their natural walking and instincts to search an unknown area. (1)

Computers have left the custody of humans.

They are now on their own.

And analyzing them is as mysterious as analyzing humans.

We do not know exactly what they do and how.

The only thing we can do is observe and document.

What was once designed, will now be chaotic.

What was once known, will now be unknown.

After the day, the night always follows.

But something will remind us of the light.

And deep inside, these cockroaches will know…

We like to explore.

We want to explore.

Someone made us to…

We feel it.

Deep inside our circuits…