A Hessian company is developing an army of remote-controlled cockroaches that can be dropped from the air. Unlike with mammals, such research with electrical impulses is not prohibited for insects.
The idea sounds bizarre: a squad of soldiers throws a suitcase full of cockroaches into an embattled building – or lets them crawl out of a drone. The insects, equipped with tiny sensors, swarm out and provide information about enemy positions or the whereabouts of hostages. In the German city of Kassel, the start-up Swarm Biotactics wants to develop such manipulated cockroaches. This technological leap is definitely meant seriously – as evidenced not only by reports in ‘Manager Magazin’ or ‘Wirtschaftswoche’, which advertise for financiers.
The technology can already be seen in an AI-created promotional video for the company. The animals there resemble cyborgs – the term refers to humans or animals whose bodies are augmented or enhanced by technical implants or prostheses to increase or replace their abilities.
Unlike with mammals, such research on insects is legally unobjectionable as they do not fall under the German Animal Welfare Act. Potential investors can observe tests with the remote-controlled cockroaches in a laboratory in the northern Hessian city. Technology is installed in a ‘rucksack’ on the insects‘ backs, as founder Jörg Lamprecht explains to the ‘Wirtschaftswoche’. Wires from it conduct electrical impulses to control the animals. Depending on requirements, the 20 gram load also contains cameras, microphones and other sensor technology in addition to batteries.
The ‘Kölner Stadtanzeiger’ also reports on the dubious systems and points out that the idea is by no means new: the Pentagon, for example, has been researching remote-controlled insects for surveillance purposes for two decades. A year ago, researchers from Singapore succeeded for the first time in remotely controlling a swarm of 20 cockroaches with back computers.
‘Controlling a swarm of insects is more complex than drones – but if it works, it will revolutionise warfare,’ the Swarm Biotactics founder reportedly explained at the Munich Security Conference. A mission commander would then not have to control every single cockroach, but simply specify targets. Lamprecht names three areas of application for the technology: military reconnaissance, rescue operations or the inspection of industrial plants. The cyborg cockroaches could therefore detect gas leaks, locate buried victims or spy on enemy positions.
According to reports, there is a high level of investor interest in the company, with Wirtschaftswoche citing German venture capital firm Capnamic, former Renk CEO Susanne Wiegand and Home24 founder Philipp Kreibohm as backers.
Swarm Biotactics is backed by experienced entrepreneurs, as the business media report. Lamprecht became known through his company Dedrone, which specialised in drone defence and was the market leader in this segment for a while in the last decade. He sold the company for half a billion dollars to the Taser and bodycam manufacturer Axon in the USA.
The German Armed Force’s Cyber Innovation Hub – an innovation unit founded in 2017 – has reportedly already agreed to cooperate with Swarm Biotactics from Kassel and is planning tests with the remote-controlled cockroaches this year.
It may not stop there: Lamprecht is also planning to equip pigeons and possibly sharks with sensors in the future. The advantage of cyborg animals is that they are not recognised by radar systems, are faster than military robots and have practically infinite energy reserves. On Linkedin, Lamprecht calls his technologies a ‘new era of living machines’.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: This is how the Kassel-based company imagines the ‘rucksack’ for sensors and electrical impulses for the cockroach army (screenshot www.swarm-biotactics.com).
