Remote-controlled cockroach swarm can now breathe underwater
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- Hirotaka Sato at Nanyang Technological University and colleagues developed a 3D-printed watertight resin diving suit for Madagascar hissing cockroaches that lets the remotely controlled insects breathe and walk underwater.
- The suit protects abdominal spiracles from water while tiny hoses deliver oxygen directly to the thorax spiracles; oxygen is generated on demand by reacting hydrogen peroxide with manganese dioxide rather than via a pressurized tank.
- Suit-wearing cockroaches walked underwater for up to 3 hours at depths of up to 50 centimetres with no ill effects, and all five insects monitored afterward were still healthy three days later.
- Cyborg insects wearing the suit moved at an average 78.4 millimetres per second underwater versus 87.5 millimetres per second on land — a modest slowdown the researchers called surprisingly natural.
- Sato first demonstrated remote control of Madagascar hissing cockroaches via electrodes in their cerci in 2021 and coordinated swarms of 20 in 2024, originally targeting post-disaster search-and-rescue where flooded zones remained inaccessible.
- Sato's stated ultimate goal is adapting the technology as a spacesuit for cyborg insects exploring Mars; the team now plans tests in vacuum, temperature extremes and intense radiation, though planetary-protection rules could complicate sending cockroaches to Mars.
- Alan Winfield at the University of the West of England says cockroaches sidestep the battery-life problem that has crippled very small robots — quoting his old line that mobile robotics' three big problems are 'energy, energy and energy.'
Why it matters: The suit makes cyborg cockroaches viable for search-and-rescue in flooded disaster zones — a use case where battery-powered mini-robots have stalled because of energy constraints. The team's stated next move is to harden the suit against Mars surface conditions including vacuum, temperature extremes and radiation, pitching cockroaches as a biological platform for planetary exploration.
