Overview
- Researchers at Nanyang Technological University and Waseda University published a Nature Communications paper on Wednesday describing a 3D‑printed diving suit that kept Madagascar hissing cockroaches alive and controllable underwater for up to three hours in lab tests.
- The suit uses a small chemical oxygen generator filled with diluted hydrogen peroxide and a manganese dioxide catalyst to produce oxygen that is pumped through silicone tubes into the cockroaches’ spiracles, the openings of their tracheal breathing system.
- Movement and direction were controlled remotely by a lightweight wireless backpack that sends brief electrical pulses to electrodes on the insect so the animal uses its own muscles to walk and steer without heavy batteries or motors.
- Tests were limited to shallow, simulated submerged obstacle courses a few inches deep and extended survival from minutes to hours, so the system remains an experimental proof of concept that needs engineering, safety and environmental review before field deployment.
- The team points to potential uses in search‑and‑rescue and pipeline inspection and builds on earlier sensor‑equipped cyborg roach work used in the March 2025 Myanmar earthquake, but chemical handling, animal welfare and long‑term reliability must be resolved first.