Russian science minister calls for mass production of cockroach robots

tass.ru ^ | Feb. 26, 2016

[PROCON]

KALININGRAD, February 26. /TASS/. Russian Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov has proposed launching mass production of miniature cockroach robots designed in Kaliningrad, the local university's press service said on Friday.

"We should start mass production of these cockroaches as the new gadget will be interesting and useful both for children and adults," the minister was quoted as saying by the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University.

Livanov was shown the 10-centimeter robot, which looks and behaves like a cockroach, during his visit to Kaliningrad's science and technology park.

[PROCON]

The cockroach robot can be used for spying and searching for people trapped under debris.

It looks like Russian scientists have as much free time on their hands as American scientists.

[fhayek]

What could go wrong?

[PROCON]

Weird Science Ping.

[Texan5]

What good at spying is a robot that anyone, anywhere is going to squash to powder with their footwear or an object like a rolled up magazine? I don’t really think there “scientists” have thought this out very well...

[Texan5]

Oops-”these” scientists...

[grobdriver]

The Fifth Element.

[No_More_Harkin]

Russian science minister calls for mass production of cockroach robots Cripes. The real bugs are hard enough to kill. Now we're making robots? Hey Russia - you can have the ones in my cupboard. I'll FedEx them to you!!

[SWAMP-C1PHER]

First thing I thought of.

[PJ-Comix]

I was almost KILLED by a real cockroach today. This morning while walking in my slippers into the kitchen I accidentally stepped on a cockroach which instantly mushed up and its slippery guts made my foot fly up into the air. I would have had a hard landing as a result but at the last instant I was able to grab the wall of the entryway which kept me upright.

Right away I thought about how embarrassing it would have been if I had cracked my skull on the floor and cause of death listed as "cockroach."

[PROCON]

Dayum, glad you're OK :-)

Question though: What are cockroaches doing in the home of a world famous journalist?

[Krosan]

Russian miniature cockroach robots are the greatest robots in the world!

[oldasrocks]

All Wrong! They should make millions of little pig robots that scurry around and squeal. Drop them by the thousands in Syria and Iraq and Iran for that matter.

[SunkenCiv]

On some days, I’d swear they’d already succeeded.

[Vroomfondel]

Related: control a cockroach with arduino for under $30

[Moltke]

Idiots can’t even get the name of the town right. It’s Königsberg. (And FR can’t seem to get the Umlaut right, oh well...)

[Oztrich Boy]

Terminator Cockroaches, is this a good idea?

[Joe 6-pack]

This was an X-Files episode :-)

[stylecouncilor]

Sounds like a Roger Corman movie.