By leveraging their high mobility and small size, insects have been combined with microcontrollers to build up cyborg insects for various practical applications. Unfortunately, all current cyborg insects rely on implanted electrodes to control their movement, which causes irreversible damage to their organs and muscles. Here, we develop a non-invasive method for cyborg insects to address above issues, using a conformal electrode with an in-situ polymerized ion-conducting layer and an electron-conducting layer. The neural and locomotion responses to the electrical inductions verify the efficient communication between insects and controllers by the non-invasive method. The precise "S" line following of the cyborg insect further demonstrates its potential in practical navigation. The conformal non-invasive electrodes keep the intactness of the insects used while controlling their motion. With the antennae, important olfactory organs of insects preserved, the cyborg insect, in the future, may be endowed with abilities to detect the surrounding environment.
翻译:通过利用其高度机动性和小尺寸,将昆虫与微控制器相结合,构建了具有多种实际应用的赛博昆虫。不幸的是,所有当前的赛博昆虫都依赖于植入的电极来控制其运动,这会对它们的器官和肌肉造成不可逆的损伤。在这里,我们开发了一种非侵入性方法,用于针对以上问题的赛博昆虫,使用具有原位聚合的离子导电层和电子导电层的符合性电极。电诱导引起的神经和运动反应验证了非侵入性方法下昆虫和控制器之间的高效通讯。赛博昆虫精确的"S"形线路跟随进一步展示了其在实际导航中的潜力。符合性的非侵入性电极保持了被使用的昆虫的完整性,同时控制其运动。随着感知周围环境的重要嗅觉器官——触角被保留下来,未来的赛博昆虫可能被赋予探测周围环境的能力。