Free Republic

The next time an ambitious adventurer gets trapped in a flooded cave, the person coming to their rescue might not be a human at all. It might be a mind-controlled, diving-suit-wearing cockroach. Sorry, entomophobes. These cyborgs are already being used in search-and-rescue operations and pipeline inspections, but so far those efforts have been limited to dry land. That’s changing. Researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore 3D-printed a flexible diving suit that roaches wear like a backpack. A chemical oxygen generator inside of it creates oxygen when the bug swims underwater and pumps it through tubes connected to the spiracles...

Cyborg cockroaches have actually been a thing for a while - with researchers attaching electrodes to the brain and sensory organs, enabling them to direct the insects like a remote-controlled car. Now, though, scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have taken things one step further by creating a cybernetic diving suit that can enable a cockroach to breath underwater. A 3D-printed 'backpack' attached to the insect contains a chemical oxygen generator and pumps the breathable air through special tubes. Experiments showed that the system provided enough of an oxygen supply for the insect to survive and swim around underwater...

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 for conventional robots. Cyborg insects are living insects fitted with electronic controllers that guide their movement. Because they use the insect's own muscles to move, they require far less power than small artificial robots, which...

Kobian, a "humanoid" robot, which can express seven human emotions, has been unveiled by researchers at Waseda University in Japan. The Emotional Humanoid Robot can express seven different feelings, including delight, surprise, sadness and dislike. In addition to assuming different poses to match the mood, Kobian uses motors in its face to move its lips, eyelids and eyebrows into various positions, according to pinktentacle. To express delight, for example, the robot its hands over its head and opens it mouth and eyes wide. To show sadness, Kobian hunches over, hangs its head and holds a hand up to its face...

Japanese archaeologists working in Egypt have found four wooden sarcophaguses and associated grave goods which could date back up to 3,300 years, the Egyptian government said on Thursday. The team from Waseda University in Tokyo discovered the anthropomorphic sarcophaguses in a tomb in the Sakkara necropolis, about 25 km (15 miles) south of Cairo, the Supreme Council for Antiquities said in a statement. Sakkara, the burial ground for the ancient city of Memphis, remains one of the richest sources of Egyptian antiquities. Archaeologists say much remains buried in the sands. The tomb also contained three wooden Canopic jars, in which...