Scientists turn a Drangonfly into a controllable, living drone

By Matthew Griffin Robo Revolution 14th May 2018

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

While many people are focused on traditional drones there are others who are trying to create bio-machine drone hybrids, and their uses could include surveillance and other nefarious purposes.

At a certain point it becomes really difficult to scale down machines, after all, a tiny drone can only be so tiny, so now scientists at Draper University in the US have come up with a solution, make a drone out of a dragonfly, and one day it could be teamed up with this “cyborg” remote control mouse…

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Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have genetically modified a dragonfly to make the nerve endings in its spinal cord light-sensitive. The team at Draper then attached a backpack, powered by a tiny solar panel, that can control the dragonfly remotely with flashes of light. It allows them to send the insect where they want.

Watch it in action

Is the experiment cruel to dragonflies? Entomologists believe it’s pretty unlikely that insects “feel” pain in the way we do.

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And the technology has some important applications. For example, it could, if we stretch the art of the possible, be used to replace bees that farmers depend on, but that are dying out at a rather alarming rate, or be used to monitor the health of beehives in a novel way. But cyborg insects like this one could also be used as the next generation of surveillance equipment – something that, funnily enough, hasn’t been lost on the Chinese or US Governments who both have their own “Cyborg insect” programs under way, and combine it with plants that can also act as surveillance devices, thanks to DARPA, and, yes, the world just got a lot weirder for you. Welcome to my world.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.