Monday, July 31, 2006

Do robotic cockroaches dream of electric fleas?


Time to call in the Blade Runners of the cockroach world to hunt down the replicants:
A team of researchers in France, Switzerland, and Belgium has created matchbox-sized bots that can infiltrate a group of cockroaches and affect their collective behavior. The machines are programmed to act like the insects and are even doused in pheromones that mimic eau de roach – the primary way cockroaches recognize each other. . . . The droid enters a roach nest, charms the locals with movements and scent, and then slowly lures its minions into a better-lit area . . . .
It wouldn't be so bad if they could at least make it look like Sean Young or Daryl Hannah.

Via Boing Boing.

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