Cyborg cockroaches deliver emergency injections in tests

Inside the University of Queensland’s School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, a gaming controller steered a giant burrowing cockroach toward a target. The animal carried a small electronic harness: a camera for visual feedback or a remotely activated injector. In this proof-of-concept test, the cyborg insects reached 95% success for close-range injection, when positioned within 15 centimeters of the target.

The harder task was the whole chain. The cockroach had to navigate, arrive at the right position and stay stable long enough to inject. Across trials, the complete navigation-and-injection task succeeded in 72% of cases. Ph.D. candidate Hai Nhan Le identified accurate positioning as one of the central engineering challenges.

The system is called “Paraborg.” Researchers from UQ developed it with biomedical engineers at the University of New South Wales, extending earlier work on cyborg insects that focused on searching and exploration. The larger cockroaches can carry more specialized rescue and medical equipment, while the team’s previous cyborg beetles demonstrated controlled climbing. The treatment remains human-supervised: the insect provides access and movement, not medical judgment.

The practical target is a person whom rescuers cannot yet reach. In a collapsed building, cave or narrow debris-filled space, a small platform carrying a camera could help locate a casualty, while another insect could potentially carry emergency equipment. Concretely, the technology could give rescue teams a way to see and possibly deliver care inside spaces conventional equipment cannot enter—but only after further research and field testing.

The researchers’ longer-term plan is a swarm whose members perform different jobs: some carrying cameras and environmental sensors, others carrying emergency or medical equipment. Dr. Thang Vo-Doan said deployment in real emergencies could be possible within 5–10 years, if resources accelerate the work. For now, the measurements come from laboratory proof-of-concept tests, and no field deployment is reported. The cockroaches are anesthetized while electrodes and microchips are fitted and live as long as other cockroaches once their harnesses are removed.