A cyborg beetle: Insect flight control through an implantable, tetherless microsystem

Abstract

We present an implantable flight control microsystem for a cyborg beetle (Fig. 1). The system consists of multiple inserted neural and muscular stimulators, a visual stimulator, a polyimide assembly and a microcontroller. The system is powered by two size 5 cochlear microbatteries. The insect platform is Cotinis texana, a 2 cm long, 1 – 2 gram Green June Beetle. We also provide data on the implantation of silicon neural probes, silicon chips, microfluidic tubes, and LED’s introduced during the pupal stage of the beetle.