“Insect-Machine Interface Based Neurocybernetics”, Alper Bozkurt, Robert F. Gilmour, Ayesa Sinha, David Stern, Amit Lal2009-03-04 (, ; backlinks)⁠:

[video; followup: Bozkurt2010 thesis] We present details of a novel bioelectric interface formed by placing microfabricated probes into insect during metamorphic growth cycles. The inserted microprobes emerge with the insect where the development of tissue around the electronics during the pupal development allows mechanically stable and electrically reliable structures coupled to the insect.

Remarkably, the insects do not react adversely or otherwise to the inserted electronics in the pupae stage, as is true when the electrodes are inserted in adult stages. We report on the electrical and mechanical characteristics of this novel bioelectronic interface, which we believe would be adopted by many investigators trying to investigate biological behavior in insects with negligible or minimal traumatic effect encountered when probes are inserted in adult stages.

This novel insect-machine interface also allows for hybrid insect-machine platforms for further studies. As an application, we demonstrate our first results toward navigation of flight in moths. When instrumented with equipment to gather information for environmental sensing, such insects potentially can assist man to monitor the ecosystems that we share with them for sustainability.

The simplicity of the optimized surgical procedure we invented allows for batch insertions to the insect for automatic and mass production of such hybrid insect-machine platforms. Therefore, our bioelectronic interface and hybrid insect-machine platform enables multidisciplinary scientific and engineering studies not only to investigate the details of insect behavioral physiology but also to control it.

Figure 1: Life span of Manduca sexta during the metamorphic development and the results of device insertions at various stages of metamorphosis.
Figure 2: (A) Cross section and (B) illustrated diagram of the flight muscles powering the upstroke & downstroke of Manduca sexta wings. The tips of the flexible probe in (A) target the flight powering muscles dl and dv (B). SEM image of the flexible-probe tip with expanded image of the ground and actuation pads can be seen in (C). The hole at the tip is opened for muscle growth.
Figure 4: (A) Pupal stage insertion of probes and (C) successful emergence. (B) Post-experimental dissections were performed at transverse (z) and frontal (x) planes. Probes embedded in dl and dv muscle groups can be seen in frontal dissection facing the dorsal direction. (G) The X-ray image of the thorax shows probe localization to the targeted muscle groups with an explanatory schematic of thoracic flight muscles. (E) Muscle growth around the probe tip and (F) natural sealing at the cuticle indicate integration by the body. (H) The removed tissue with the probe when it was extracted from an adult insect, dl probe on the left and dv probe on the right.

…Insects demonstrate genetically programmed stereotypical behaviors triggered by environmental stimuli.27 Therefore, as shown in this article, direct control of insect locomotion behavior through electronics is more straightforward than with larger animals (eg. rats and monkeys). Based on the initial results presented here, more advanced electrical neuromuscular control strategies can be developed to instruct insects to navigate and to learn particular tasks using routine-operant conditioning techniques.28 We have generated motor output by applying proprioceptive inputs directly to the peripheral neuromuscular systems. However, to stimulate behavioral responses, additional payloads can be implanted with our surgical procedure to provide exteroceptive inputs to the insect’s chemical, mechanical, and visual receptors. These concepts have substantial potential to train individual insects remotely to control their behavior. Hence, we validate a prototypical technology using insect muscle for controlled insect locomotion, which could lead to insect domestication as modern “beasts of burden”, to carry information processing electronics and sensors. Moreover, electronics can be used for biological and environmental sensing by tapping into the sensory systems of the insects and using insects own natural receptors. Controlling motor function of invertebrates while also simultaneously recording from its natural sensors enables a vast number of applications for various scientific and engineering studies.

[Keywords: bioelectric, cyborgs, flight control, implantable electrodes, insects, metamorphosis, neural implants, neuromuscular]

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Insect-Machine Interface Based Neurocybernetics