Overview
- Researchers at Nanyang Technological University with Waseda University published a Nature Communications paper this week reporting a flexible 3D‑printed shell that gave Madagascar hissing cockroaches underwater endurance of two to three hours in lab tests.
- The backpack‑size unit contains manganese dioxide and a sponge that, when injected with diluted hydrogen peroxide, slowly releases oxygen that is sealed in a tank and routed through silicone tubes to the insect’s four spiracles.
- Cyborg cockroaches wearing the suit navigated submerged obstacle courses at an average speed of about 78.4 mm/s, only roughly 10 mm/s slower than on land, while control insects suffocated within roughly two minutes.
- The work is a laboratory proof of concept that overcomes a key biological limit but still needs redesign for safety, scaling to other species, deeper water, longer missions, and real‑world field validation before operational use.
- The project builds on more than a decade of electrode‑guided cyborg‑insect research used in disaster response and aims to let small biohybrid robots access flooded rubble, drains, and narrow inspection spaces that larger machines cannot reach.