Introducing the "RoboRoach"

We are pleased to announce the beta version of our RoboRoach control circuit is now available, which allows you to trick a cockroach into turning left or right by microstimulation of the antenna nerves. You can use this experimental model to teach your students about current neurotechnology. For example, 1) How long before the cockroach adapts to the stimulation and learns to ignore it?, and 2) What is the optimal circuit design to make the electronics as simple and light as possible? Follow the surgical instructions in the video below to begin your own neural engineering inquiry. It takes about an hour to do the surgery; within 2-4 attempts you will become an expert.

In addition to the RoboRoach kit, you will need:

1. A pair of fine forceps (tweezers). A good one costs about $10 at the drug store.
2. A magnifying glass with its own stand. You can get this at RadioShack or Fry's for ~$5-15
3. A low-temp hot glue gun, which you can buy at a drug store or arts and crafts store. - $5
4. Some wooden Q-tips or similar. - trivial
5. Small piece of ~120 grit sandpaper. -trivial
6. Loctite control gel super glue. ~$4 at a grocery store or hardware store
7. Ice Water Cup.
8. A steady hand.

We are also proud to say this project began as a senior engineering design project we managed and sponsored at the University of Michigan in winter 2010. The students converged on the circuit design, demonstrated proof-of-principle, and we spent the last 6-8 months improving the surgical preparation and circuit packaging. You can read some "weird news" press here, lively discussion on boingboing here, and listen below to a radio interview with NewsTalk Ireland describing the prep.

For all you circuit heads and advanced scientists/engineers out there, here is the circuit diagram for the stimulator circuit. We used the +3 V output of the remote control HEXBug circuit (green circuit board) to drive our pulse generators (red circuit boards). Below image shows the output of the circuit when plugged into an oscilloscope (not cockroach). Finally, some suppliers of large discoid cockroaches are Aaron Pauling (Arizona), Ken the Bug Guy (Bay Area, CA), and Nyworms (New York). What can you discover today? Challenge Us!