A research team from the University of Queensland and the University of New South Wales has developed the “Paraborg,” a cyborg cockroach designed not only to search for victims but also to administer first aid.

Equipped with electrodes and microchips, these large burrowing cockroaches can be remotely controlled to navigate through narrow gaps in rubble and administer medication to disaster victims. The team found that they could steer the roaches by stimulating their antennae and cerci, while a spring system deploys a syringe to deliver medication.

The success rate for injections made at close range topped out at approximately 95 percent, but the overall success rate for the entire sequence of tasks was 72 percent. The researchers also demonstrated teamwork, where one cockroach uses a camera to locate a simulated target while another serves as the injector.

While promising, the experiment didn’t replicate the complex environmental conditions found at actual disaster sites, such as debris, uneven terrain, and shifting landscapes. Despite this, the team hopes that a rescue team of cyborg insects could be deployed within five to 10 years.

“Rather than building one robot to do everything, we can harness the natural strengths of different insects and equip them for different missions,” said Tan Vo Doan, a bio-robotics researcher at UQ.