‘Cyborg Cockroaches’ Get Suits for Rescue Missions
The suit kept cyborg cockroaches active underwater for up to 3 hours and could aid search-and-rescue in flooded rubble and tunnels.
- Researchers at Nanyang Technological University and Waseda University developed a 3D-printed diving suit for cyborg cockroaches, published Monday in Nature Communications to enhance search-and-rescue operations in disaster zones.
- Professor Hirotaka Sato of NTU Singapore has led over a decade of cyborg insect research, leveraging biological systems that require significantly less power than artificial robots by using the insects' own muscles.
- The diving suit features an oxygen generator enabling up to three hours of underwater movement, with Sato stating, "Our new insect diving suit works like the oxygen tank used by human divers."
- Suit-Wearing cockroaches moved at 87.5 millimeters per second on land and 78.4 millimeters per second underwater, successfully navigating a 2-centimeter-high crevice after researchers implanted electronics directly into the insect's body.
- Beyond disaster zones, Professor Shinjiro Umezu of Waseda University suggests potential uses in inspecting flooded pipes and tunnels, while Sato envisions space exploration applications, potentially developing suits for cyborg insects to traverse Mars.
42 Articles
42 Articles
A team of scientists has developed a new way to save humanity in emergency situations. A minuscule 3D-printed diving suit for cyborg cockroaches could assist emergency services in locating victims in flooded disaster areas. This is according to a study in the scientific journal Nature.
Researchers Turn Cockroaches Into an Underwater Cyborg For Rescue Missions
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University and Waseda University have published a new Nature Communications study, dated June 29, 2026, showing that a Madagascar hissing cockroach fitted with a wearable oxygen-supplying suit can keep moving in water, or in oxygen-poor spaces, for up to three hours in controlled tests. That is the real advance here. Cyborg cockroaches are not new, and NTU’s lab has already shown how insect-based platforms co…
New Tech Cyborg Cockroach Goes Underwater and to Space Equipped with a Diving Suit and Oxygen Generator, It Operates for 3 Hours Manganese Dioxide Decomposes Hydrogen Peroxide to Supply Oxygen Potential for Use in Flooded Disaster Sites and Space Exploration A cockroach equipped with electronic devices on its back has jumped into the water. The diving suit supplies oxygen, allowing it to move freely even underwater.
A diving suit for cyborg cockroaches could enhance search-and-rescue operations
Scientists from NTU Singapore and Waseda University have developed a flexible "diving suit" for cyborg cockroaches, enabling the insects to survive and move underwater and in low-oxygen environments for up to three hours. Published today in Nature Communications, the study could expand the use of cyborg insects in search-and-rescue missions, especially in disaster zones where flooded rubble, puddles or partially submerged spaces can block access…
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